Chapter 26: I refuse; the winner has no right to challenge.

The spacious carriage traveled on a flat road. Will was absorbed in reading a book, while Annie watched Lilith closely, preventing her from getting near Will. Angor was eager for a big fight, and Feitman was scribbling in his notebook, laughing like a 200-pound child. Outside the carriage, the Vol Temple Knight and the coachman sat together. As a swordsmanship teacher at Mirdis Intermediate Academy, he was responsible for the safety of his students. Well, that was the excuse that got him on the carriage too.

The Rose Knight’s Guild Hall was not far from Mirdis Intermediate Academy, and the carriage quickly stopped. Lilith led them in, and they saw the square next to the indoor training hall was already packed with people. Thirty-four knight apprentices were training with great enthusiasm. Why not use the indoor training hall? Haha, Molly said that as long as they didn’t enter indoors, male knight apprentices could stay here for a little while, which was acceptable.

Annie was left behind, while Will, Angor, and Feitman were sent to the men’s changing room to change into their gear. The Vol Temple Knight didn’t need to; he was always in his neat Temple Knight uniform, ready for battle at any moment. Lilith had prepared male training uniforms for them, preventing Will from experiencing yesterday’s embarrassment. But for some reason, Will always had a bad feeling.

All thirty-four knight apprentices, including Molly and the three official knights, were present. Even Angor couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Feitman, wearing his knight training uniform, kept squirming as if he were covered in fleas, clearly uncomfortable. The eight apprentices who lost to Will yesterday stood in a line at the very front, while the others stood a few steps behind them, cheering them on.

The outdoor training ground had no arena, nor was it as large as the indoor training ground, and its facilities were even simpler. However, their purpose in coming here was not for training, but for sparring, or rather, to allow the eight knight apprentices who failed yesterday to gain combat experience.

“Please guide me!” The first one to step forward was still the eleven-year-old girl who was the first to be defeated yesterday. Will, being singled out, couldn’t refuse. After all, he had won yesterday.

The two exchanged bows according to the formal knight sparring etiquette, then retreated three steps and stood facing each other with swords drawn. After the meticulous process was completed, the little beauty, as always, took the initiative to attack with her sword, seemingly not having learned her lesson from yesterday. “Bang~” The wooden swords clashed, but this time, little Will didn’t choose to retreat. Instead, he pushed his wooden sword, directly thwarting the little beauty’s subsequent plans. She stumbled back a step before regaining her balance.

The little beauty looked doubtfully at Senior Knight Molly, who was standing not far away. Molly covered her face; this little one was truly naive. She made a gesture for her to continue. The little beauty raised her sword and continued to attack. Unexpectedly, the little beauty, who was inferior in strength, agility, physique, and even in her understanding and application of basic swordsmanship, was defeated on the tenth move, her wooden sword sent flying.

“Thank you for the guidance.” Although she lost, it was still within expectations. The little beauty wasn’t discouraged and skipped back to her team.

The second little beauty didn’t wait for little Will to rest, jumping out directly and challenging him. Was this a continuous battle without rest? Little Will saw Molly’s big smile and suddenly felt exhausted.

The second little beauty seemed to have made some progress. Little Will wasn’t able to send her wooden sword flying on the tenth move; it took an extra swing to disarm her. The second little beauty seemed happy that she could hold on for one more swing; this was visible progress.

Indeed, they had no intention of letting him rest. The third little beauty immediately stepped forward. This time, little Will increased his control over his strength, sending her wooden sword flying on the tenth move. He secretly glanced at Molly, thinking, “Not only are you all improving, but I am too.”

As the knight apprentices grew stronger, and as they seemed to have received special guidance, Will was no longer able to guarantee his suppression and control over the battles.

The fourth little beauty was defeated on the fifteenth move, and the fifth little beauty held on until the eighteenth move. However, the sixth little beauty didn’t even last until the tenth move, being unexpectedly defeated by little Will on the ninth move. The seventh and eighth knight apprentices were clearly stronger than the others, fighting Will to the thirty-fifth and forty-seventh moves respectively.

After continuously defeating eight knight apprentices, little Will felt truly exhausted. Even though each person didn’t last long, he had to use different strengths and coping methods for different opponents, which was enough to drain little Will’s strength and energy. Little Will suddenly saw Lilith walking towards him with a sword and immediately turned and ran. He really couldn’t fight anymore.

“Don’t run! Running after winning is very ungentlemanly. Let’s have a match.” Lilith was faster than little Will, and what’s more, one was exhausted, while the other was well-rested and waiting. In a flash, she blocked little Will.

Purely seeking abuse, he wouldn’t do it. Little Will directly put his wooden sword behind his back, playing the rogue: “I refuse. The winner has no right to challenge. You already won two matches against me yesterday, so until the next rest day, I refuse to spar with you.”

Lilith was incredibly frustrated. This scoundrel actually dared to refuse her! She had thought about it for a long time after returning last night, and today she had diligently trained in basic swordsmanship, finding many new feelings. She was just about to use him to test her results, but she never expected this scoundrel to refuse.

“Shouldn’t it be that the weak have no rights? Why do I, as the winner, have no right to challenge?” Lilith blocked Will, not letting him leave. She had to verify whether her idea was correct or not.

“Student Will has fought eight consecutive matches and is already very tired. Let me spar with you.” Receiving a hint from his sister, the already hot-blooded Angor voluntarily stepped forward.

Lilith glanced at him and casually pointed to the eight little beauty knight apprentices who had just been defeated, “Only if you defeat them are you qualified to challenge me.”

“Alright!” Angor had watched their entire fight and didn’t feel that little Will was anything special. The swordsmanship he used was all basic swordsmanship, not even as impressive or fierce as when he used it. If he could win eight consecutive matches, there was no reason why he couldn’t do it.

Little Will, who had seen everything, really wanted to ask Annie, “Is it really okay to trick your own brother like this?” Angor’s attributes weren’t actually very outstanding: Strength: 1.2, Agility: 1.1, Constitution: 1.0, Spirit: 0.9. He was only slightly stronger than an average adult, but limited. His understanding of basic swordsmanship was even less comparable to the knight apprentices at the Rose Knight’s Guild Hall who had been guided by Senior Knight Molly for a long time. He only hoped that he wouldn’t lose confidence in the knight profession because of this.

Angor, full of fighting spirit, stepped forward. He easily won against the first opponent in just two moves, almost injuring the eleven-year-old little beauty, which earned him angry glares from everyone. The second opponent also fell in less than five moves. The third opponent was slightly better, lasting twelve moves before being defeated. But from the fourth opponent onwards, Angor sensed something was wrong; she was a formidable opponent! The two exchanged more than fifty moves before Angor barely managed to win. Although he ultimately won, he had expended too much physical strength. When the fifth opponent stepped forward, Angor was very frustrated as he was suppressed and beaten, eventually being defeated after thirty moves.

Angor found it hard to accept such a result. Why did he lose? Against the same opponents, Will, who had only trained for two weeks, defeated eight people in a row, while he fell to the fifth opponent. And he clearly knew that the later opponents would only be stronger. Was he too weak, or was Will too strong? Were his opponents weak? No, after actually fighting them, Angor realized that they were not weak, and their swordsmanship was quite good. He had only won the previous few matches by relying on his male strength. Against the latter two opponents, he couldn’t even gain the upper hand in terms of strength. He won against the fourth opponent with sheer grit but eventually fell to the fifth knight apprentice. If he were in peak condition, could he have guaranteed a win against the fifth opponent? It would be fifty-fifty. There was also some hope of winning against the sixth opponent, but the last two were clearly much stronger than the first six, and he absolutely had no hope of winning. Why hadn’t he noticed this before he entered the arena?

“Feitman, it’s your turn now. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, we don’t accept voluntary surrender. Everyone needs to accept challenges from at least three knight apprentices. Let’s begin.” Lilith raised an eyebrow. Feitman, who was about to surrender, had already been thrown out by the Vol Temple Knight. “Go, little fatty! You’re my student. At least defeat one little girl, she’s much younger than you!”

As a result, Feitman lost all three matches and was almost beaten to a pulp.