Chapter 265: The Duke Explains, But…

I felt bad interrupting the two of them while they were so excited, but there were things I had to confirm.

"Um... will we be fighting bare-handed?"

"Hmm? Does Ambassador Marie want to fight bare-handed? If you have confidence that’s fine, but normally we use blunted swords. You’ll get injured, but it shouldn’t be fatal."

Ah—so injuries were expected after all! If you smashed at each other with swords you were bound to get hurt. In the worst case you might even die.

Paying no attention to my worries, the Duke puffed out his chest.

"Don’t worry! Ambassador Marie doesn’t even need to fight first! Nominally it’s Marie Kingdom versus House Kirchhoff, but you’re a guest, so you can just stand there with a big dooon! House Vélez will do the fighting."

He answered proudly, but I felt no reassurance at all. I would have been more comfortable if he had said something like "I’m counting on you. Do your best!"

Anyway—

"Where are these blunted swords?"

"What, you don’t have any? I see. Then I’ll have our house prepare them. Tell the steward your preferences later."

Was it normal to already own blunted swords? I didn’t know, but if they would prepare them for us, that was better.

"What about armor?"

"Use your own. However, if you wear anything too sturdy it looks bad, so you have to be careful. Appearance is what matters. It’s embarrassing to look like you’re wearing armor because you’re afraid of getting hurt. Going out looking close to bare skin is seen as courageous—as if you’re not afraid of injury."

Bare skin? Then having Lily appear in a bikini swimsuit would probably get the crowd going. Stevie wouldn’t work for that.

"Who will serve as referee?"

the Duchess asked. I had been wondering whether there even was a referee, but the Duke answered as if it were obvious.

"Well, that was difficult. It was quite a struggle, but in the end the Knight Commander and Vice-Commander will serve. We had a hard time choosing people so that Count von Kirchhoff couldn’t buy off the referees."

He said it boastfully. I still didn’t have a clear picture of what would actually happen, but I understood that it was a major event.

"Amazing! Referees that luxurious—has this country ever had anything like it since it was founded?"

The Duchess’s excitement had shot through the roof. The Duke’s face flushed as well, as if he had been pulled along.

"That’s right! After all, it also serves as Ambassador Marie’s debut! So we’ll smash Count von Kirchhoff to pieces and have Ambassador Marie raise the victory cry. Then you and I will stand on either side of him and congratulate him together! There couldn’t be anything more splendid than that, could there?"

"Yes! It’s like a dream?!"

Watching the two of them get so worked up only made me pull back further. But there was no longer any room for me to interject.

I waited in silence for them to calm down. I waited and waited, but once the two of them had heated up they did not cool easily.

After waiting for the steaming pair to settle, I was allowed to return to the embassy. In the carriage Rudolf said:

"Lord Robin, His Grace made it sound simple, but it is nothing of the sort. To begin with, a battle of this scale—whether one calls it a duel or a match—has not occurred in decades."

"Rudolf, did you look into it?"

When I asked, Rudolf nodded.

"I was curious about what they would actually do, so I went to the National Library and investigated."

There was a National Library?! I wanted to ask about that too, but right now the match was more urgent, so I asked about that first.

"So did you learn anything?"

"Nothing at all. I even asked the library staff, but such things are considered private fights among nobles and are not recorded. Therefore there were no books that could serve as reference." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Then what did the Duke use as a basis when he made the arrangements?"

"I imagine he looked at the ducal house’s own collection or records. Or perhaps he asked one of those people who exist everywhere—the living encyclopedias who are abnormally well-versed in past cases."

"In that case we still know nothing. We may not understand until we actually go to Count von Kirchhoff’s residence that night."

"Exactly. His Grace said that the ducal side would attack and Count von Kirchhoff’s side would defend, but it is also possible that Count von Kirchhoff’s people will come out of the mansion and attack in turn, don’t you think?"

Ah—that was true! That could happen. If it did, I didn’t think the Duke or I would be allowed to run around fleeing. If we fled we would be called cowardly, or told it was unbefitting of a noble. I was not a noble of this country, so fleeing should be fine... but that probably wasn’t true. Should I just say "I surrender"? But if I did that, both I myself and the Duke who had recommended me to His Majesty would suffer dishonor. Did that mean I had no choice but to fight it through no matter what?

"His Grace said ’bare skin,’ but we won’t know until we go to Count von Kirchhoff’s residence. At the very least let us prepare a leather helm, a breastplate, and gauntlets. If no one else is wearing them we can take them off; if they are wearing them we can leave them on."

"That’s right. It’s better to be prepared for anything. I’ll leave that to you. Do we have the money?"

Lily and I still had the gear from when we wandered the forest, but it was scarred and still quite dirty. If we wore that we would probably just be mocked again.

"Please do not worry. I will have an arms merchant come."

"I’ll leave it to you. Thanks."

I could only hope the conversation would roll the way the Duke imagined.