The Black Demon King 484
Fist Fighting Duel
The fairly large two-story building next to the church is a tavern and it is the only entertainment facility in the 202nd colony. It was from here that the soldiers who attacked the village carried out a barrel of wine.
The interior was similar to the first floor of the Adventurer’s Guild Ils Village. There were only a few round tables lined up in a simple wooden hall. And regarding its decorations, there were only wild items such as monster horns and fur hung on the wall. It is not a luxurious place but it is more than enough to have a drink and have a good time.
It was midwinter but I could feel the heat of the crowded customers.
Well, I am now standing naked in the middle of that tavern. It is not part of a punishment game or a strip show.
“Hugh, his muscles look like steel!”
“That’s because he’s not a priest.”
“Amazing body, I may like it!”
The men who were already under the effects of alcohol received quite good comments from the waiters at the tavern, but it was definitely not a strip show.
“You seem prepared, priest, are you confident in your skills?”
Ryan was standing in front of me, he was also shirtless and showing off his stunning muscles.
Confronting a man just with one’s body without a weapon is nothing else than a duel. Of course, as expected from Ryan, the errand he needed my help with was this one-on-one duel.
However, it is just a duel just to test our ability.
“Yes, so those Crusader soldiers can be punished for what they did.”
“Heh-heh, you’re good. Hey, prepare some gloves.”
A man who was standing nearby reacted to Ryan’s quick call.
I remained silent and pushed my hands forward, and with a strangely experienced hand, the man quickly put on large gloves wrapped in a worn-out piece of cloth. The opponent, Ryan, also wore gloves wrapped in a tattered piece of cloth, and his companions as well.
It is like boxing.
“It is Elysion’s style. Do you need to hear the rules?”
“I can imagine some things, but please do.”
After wearing the gloves, Ryan took a step to leave his fellow mate behind and approached me directly.
Only the upper part that was drawn out and the back of my hand were covered with the gloves, and he tapped my chest with a gentle knock.
“The only weapon that can be used is a fist. Kicking, throwing, and magic enhanced by God’s miracles are prohibited.”
“I was relieved to hear those easy rules”
“Oh, even if I hit you on your face, it’d just break your nose and front teeth, so keep calm and take that hit.”
It is wonderful. It is a duel where you don’t take lives.
I wonder if Ryan will take it with normality as long as he doesn’t have to take it seriously.
“But you should take off your glasses.”
“Don’t worry.”
When Ryan heard my answer, he approached me erasing his confident smile.
“What kind of eyes are you hiding, dude? I know, those are the old man’s colored glasses.”
It seems that he knows about “Coloring Eyes”. By the way, Ryan hit me right after I got this from Randolph.
In these circumstances, it’d be good if he doesn’t see the color, even if my origin is known, assuming Randolph hasn’t spoken up.
“Hey, well, do your best to keep hiding it. Anyway, it’ll be blown away soon after this.”
With that said, Ryan went back to his original position again.
If he punches my face, the glasses will just break without blowing away. If the lens breaks, the effect would be lost, so it’d be the same thing, right?
Anyway, I have no intention of being punched or losing.
Even if I easily lost on purpose against Ryan here, I’d be disregarded as a guard. He didn’t introduce himself to the villagers, but Randolph informs the main members of the village. Without him doing so, no matter how much I called myself a priest, there would be no room for a dangerous person like me here.
However, if I used a pile bunker right at the start it’d turn into a one-sided game, I’d stun Ryan in a single shot. If I do so, there is a chance he will hold a grudge against me. Hmm, I wonder what would be the best way to win this duel?
“…”
I looked back and Sariel was sitting in a chair, holding the robe I took off. She stared at me as if she wanted to give me some kind of advice.
“… Do your best, brother.”
She was completely in spectator mode. Jeez, she isn’t thinking about this situation.
And then, without thinking about any particular ground-breaking idea, the fight, the duel itself started.
“Well, then, today’s main event will start!”
A fellow man who wore the same gloves as Ryan’s was the moderator and referee, and his loud voice echoed throughout the bar in high tension.
That reminds me, I feel like this guy was one of the two who dragged Ryan out of the room yesterday. A slightly long thin-faced young man, with blond hair and red eyes, now I can notice he is a Barbados, the same as Reki.
The other one had dark skin, so he must be an Evram. The one that gave me the gloves.
If I take a look around the tavern again, I can see other people with the same characteristics. Once you learn that, it’s pretty obvious.
“East Corner! The strongest fist who defeated the Elysion’s heinous gangsters, and the chief of our vigilance committee, Ryaaaan!!”
Wow! Ryan’s popularity in the village can be seen by the big uproar. But the thing that caught my attention the most was the fact that he was the vigilant chief.
“And in the west corner, facing the champion! He punished the unscrupulous bastards who attacked the village and killed an armored bear, mysterious glasses, priest Kuroe!”
I’m sorry, it was my sister who killed the armored bear.
It couldn’t be corrected by now, and they wouldn’t believe me so I decided to take the credit for it. Also, don’t call me glasses.
“Ah, do your best, priest…”
“Show us the skills you used to crush the Crusaders!”
“Introduce me to Yuri!!”
For the time being, I was relieved that they weren’t screaming “boo” at me. I’m not as angry as when that time with the guard. The only one who is clearly hostile here is Ryan, and the others just seem to enjoy it as spectators of an extraordinary event.
As expected, I can’t just have a bad duel here, it wouldn’t be good to let the spectators down.
Also, if what he wants is Sariel, then he should just attack me with whatever he likes. If your heart is that broken by her unresponsiveness, then I can comfort him as a priest.
“Time is unlimited! Win or lose fairly, fainting or surrendering. Then, ready, go!”
The signal in place of the usual gong echoed high.
“Let’s do this!”
As the one who makes the first move wins, Ryan rushed toward me with enthusiasm.
He has a body frame normal for a heavy knight but, he’s light and quick. You can see he is considerably powerful from the straight punch he delivered from his thick arm.
However, that is normal for a human.
“… Tsch!”
Does he think I’ll avoid it at the last minute? I just leaned back and evaded his first punch.
“Ah!”
That right straight was a big miss, without even backing down, he tried to hit again with his already extended arm with a backhand chop.
If I stepped down just a step and slightly turned my upper body, I could see Ryan’s roaring fists passing by.
“Huh! Come on, come on!!”
After that, along with a cry in a fighting spirit came Ryan’s fierce rush.
I still have no idea how I should defeat him, so I will keep evading his hits to earn time for the time being. One step to the right, another one to the left and sway back. This tavern’s ring is not that big, so you can’t really move too far away from the spectators. With this narrow margin I have just no other way but to guard it and avoid it.
“Ryan attacks, attacks! With raging attacks! Pries Kuroe avoids Ryan’s Super Rush with skillful foot moves, but he can’t fight back!”
So that is what it looks like from the spectator’s perspective?
In that case, even if I turn thimgs around here with a one-shot KO, it would look like it was a lucky shot.
If possible, I would like to avoid all the possibilities of the villagers noticing that priest Kuroe has the skill to defeat Ryan and abilities even their vigilant chief doesn’t have. It is a good idea to pretend to fight from here… No, if there is a difference in ability so big that I can still read all Ryan’s movements then I will just keep evading him for as long as I can. How should I win? I finally came up with a plan.
“Come on, what’s wrong, priest? If you just keep jumping and running like a rabbit I can’t defeat you!!”
Ryan took some distance with a step back and adjusted his breathing. He shouted that and then came back to try to fiercely hit again, but he stopped.
“What?!”
His left hist which looked more like a cannon hit my right fist. To be more precise I didn’t guess it, I just did it at the same time, Quietly, calmly, and slowly.
“Huh, shit?!”
Ryan got out of his shooting position, but there was something that didn’t let him cut through. He withdrew his righthand swinging up and ended up in an unnatural posture.
“What…?!”
With a twisting posture, I prepared my right hand and tried to gouge his left fist.
This didn’t require any speed in my movements. If I can understand the opponent’s movement this far, it is not hard to anticipate his and interfere with my attacks.
“W-what?! What the hell is going on! All Ryan’s punches are blocked before they hit?!”
Thank you very much for your enthusiastic commentary.
If I keep controlling Ryan’s attack several times, even inexperienced people will notice that it’s not luck but skill.
“Huh, huh! Damn it!”
No matter how many punches he tried to hit, I easily kept up with it, stopping all the soft gloves punches.
“What’s going on?! Is this a God’s miracle, right?! No, this is definitely not any magic that would violate the rules. It is purely priest Kuroe’s power!”
Oh, the audience roaring’s reaction feels a little comfortable. If we had this duel on the scale of the Spada’s Grand Coliseum, it would be amazing.
At the time of the Curse Sword Fighting Tournament Carnival, I was desperate to win, but I couldn’t do it.
It should be enough already for now. Let’s settle this duel here.
“Is it okay for me to attack?”
“W-what…”
“You can’t just beat your opponent just by running away or protecting from his hits.”
While saying that, I slowly raised my right fist. A posture that shoots a straight punch and would be easy for anyone to see.
Of course, I don’t have magical power charged. If I use a pile bunker, the human Ryan will die no matter what, although Vulcan didn’t die.
“Guard, please. You might die.”
“Don’t mess around…”
Ryan was sweltering and his body was covered in sweat due to the first half of the rush and his containment on the second half of it. The sweat drained like a waterfall as he took a rough breath, and I could considerably feel in his glare the fact that he was facing me with great intensity.
However, there is an enormous difference in ability between ordinary humans and cyborgs. And I wonder if he is seeing somehow how big of a difference there is between us. Ryan reflexively raised his arm to protect himself.
And so the spectators standing behind him also started protecting themselves from left and right, as if Ryan’s body would be blown away at any time.
All of them made good guessings and they were safe.
Now I can finally attack.
“Then, I’m going.”
Dan, Do, Van! The three sounds echoed at the same time consecutively.
Dan is the sound of my step, the moment I stepped on the new wooden floor.
The next dull sound was my right fist hitting Ryan directly. I didn’t aim at his face or belly but his chest. After noticing the point where it would be the hardest to defend with his both arms, I punched there.
And finally, the bang sound that rang loudly! Of course, that roaring sound was the result of Ryan losing his momentum and being blown away, and crashing into the wall on his back.
If we consider his back and muscle mass, Ryan is a heavyweight who weighs about 100 kilograms. But for me, who can kick off the pig Buma Chimera who weighs over 200 kilograms, it isn’t too much. It didn’t matter at all.
Then, when his sturdy body received my punch, he was blown off as if he was being run over by a truck. If there was no wall there, I don’t know how far he would have been blown away.
Ryan seems to have completely lost his consciousness after the super-heavy punching force he received on his front and the impact he received on his back immediately afterward. His body slamming against the wall immediately took off his leg strength and he came out of his posture, suddenly collapsing as he was.
It is very unlikely that he will get up within the 10-second countdown.
With this, the cheers to celebrate my victory, no, my splendid victory didn’t echo at all.
“…”
Only silence. When I glanced at the left and right, their faces… the faces of the villagers were uniformly dumbfounded, how should I say it? It seemed as if I had failed, it was cringy.
D-damn it, in this situation, it would be okay even if I looked as weak, it would have been better to have more of an ordinary fight where we exchanged normal hits. But even if I regret it now, it’s too late.
The only thing that moved in this frozen atmosphere was one of the young waitresses who approached to take care of the fallen Ryan. Of course, just a young girl wouldn’t be enough to get up and carry Ryan from the floor.
Hmmm, this is where I should ask “May I help you?”. However, I feel like saying “Please, help me” instead.
“Somebody, carry Ryan…”
As she said that, the tavern door was kicked down with a loud noise.
“Oh! What?!”
“Well, isn’t it Mr. Randolph?!”
The men spoke in an astonished voice as if somebody’s ass was kicked. Just as they say, it was mayor Randolph who came in.
I wonder if he came here in such a hurry. He sweats from his forehead and is breathing heavily. And his thin hair was also fluttering as if it was about to jump on and off his head.
“Hey, what does this mean…”
Randolph looked around with bloodshot eyes. His appearance resembled a dissatisfied office worker about to reach his retirement but was laid off just before he did. It gave me a strange feeling.
And so, as soon as Randolph came in, he rushed out to my front as he pushed the spectators lined up aside.
“I-I’m very sorry, Priest Kuroe!”
With the energy as if it were the Japanese High School Baseball Championship’s head-sliding, he prostrated in front of me.
“I’m deeply sorry for the inconvenience!”
“… Please calm down a little, Mr. Randolph”
I am proud of myself for being able to speak as an honorific priest and keep the acting. For a second I thought my true nature was about to slip out.
“No, it is not something that should be forgiven. I didn’t think Ryan would be so stupid to pick up a fight with a priest… It was my bad that I didn’t prevent this.”
I see, that was the reason why Randolph was prostrating himself in apologyies.
I am pretty sure he may have heard something about Ryan suspecting of my priest’s acting. If you go all out in a tavern, there is no way they wouldn’t notice.
And there is no way Randolph ignores such a thing. He is the one who understands my danger better than anyone else.
On the other hand, Ryan was not that afraid. He hadn’t seen how I killed the Crusader soldiers directly. It may be natural that he doesn’t feel the danger in me as Randolph perceives it.
That’s why Ryan was able to calmly approach me and invite me to a duel, and Randolph was afraid of my anger.
“Please raise your head”
“… I’m really sorry. I’m going to have a talk with Ryan now.”
Randolph got up quickly and approached the fallen down Ryan with a slightly fluttering gait. Meanwhile, I snatched a cup of beer a customer had.
“Get up, Ryan.”
I turned the mug upside down and threw the drink on top of Ryan’s head.
“Uh, uh…”
Ryan regained his consciousness and showed a vague face, he screamed heavily as if he noticed it.
“Oh, what… Uncle?!”
“Are you awake? Ryan, How do you feel?”
“… It’s not bad.”
“Well, do you have anything left to say?”
Suddenly, at the moment I thought a disturbing line popped out. Randolph pulled out a knife from his pocket.
“Well, uncle?! That guy…”
“Ryan, you chose the wrong opponent for this fight. I can’t help you, it’s going to be lethal.”
“Oh, I …”
“This is the only way to settle this matter. Do you get it?”
“Uncle… I’m sorry…”
Then, Ryan closed his eyes with a face that seemed to accept everything, and Randolph swung his knife up with a flowing natural movement.
Eh? It must be a lie, no way…
“Wait!”
It was at the last moment.
Randolph was already swinging his knife down and Ryan didn’t resist despite the blade approaching his neck.
That’s why I stopped. Only I could have done it.
“Priest?! Why did you stop it?!”
“No matter what, that is just too much.”
With the gloved hand still on, I managed to somehow grab Randolph’s wrist. If I had taken just an extra second, the sharp tip would have split Ryan’s neck.
“However…”
“Calm down. This is… Yes, this is what I wanted.”
“……What do you mean?”
“Ryan was the one who asked me to come to this tavern. I thought it’d help me become familiar with this village as soon as possible. And then, the vigor of the alcohol and the atmosphere turned things into this… and the same thing happened to Ryan, as he’s a man who trusts his physical strength. We had a very worthwhile and fun duel. I’m grateful to him and have no reason to resent him at all.”
I managed to line up to 800 lies so far. If you asked the villagers here I’d probably be discovered in the blink of an eye. But despite that, I’m not even angry, so I’d like to let Randolph know that I have no intention to harm the village in any way at all, that’d probably be the best idea.
“Yes, is that alright? … If that’s the case.”
“Yes, it’s like that, so don’t worry about this.”
For the time being, it seems better for me to leave immediately before the lies are immediately revealed here.
“Sorry, it seems that the fun place has turned a little pale. I’m leaving. Reki and Ursula are also waiting for me.”
While saying something appropriate, I received the robe from Sariel, covered it completely from my head, and quickly changed my clothes. No matter what, if I go out with my shirtless, I’m impatient.
I said something appropriate and received my robe from Sariel and I proceeded to cover myself entirely from the top of my head.
The highest priority is to get out of this place calmly and comfortably.
“Everyone, please enjoy yourselves after this.”
Holding Sariel under my arm, I started walking toward the exit.
Along the way, Ryan stood up quietly, staring at me with a stern look, but he didn’t say a word.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me”
Then, I left the tavern.
“… I didn’t think it would become such a fuss. They were all Sinclairs, right?”
What caught my attention the most was, of course, Randolph’s attempt to kill Ryan without hesitation. If you were killing people like that, they would be extinct in no time.
“Randolph’s actions are certainly different from the general reaction you’d expect. He seems to be closest to gang behaviour and principles.”
It seems that he has a pretty dangerous past. I should change my perspective of him.
“For the time being, it seems better to act with more caution.”
“I agree.”
While deeply reflecting on it, I went back to the church next to the tavern.