Chương 134: 132. Confidence

~ Tesyb ~ ~ Somewhere in the village of Tiranat ~ Tesyb had been running for a while now, but he didn't feel tired at all. If anything, he had never felt more alive in his life. This was the first time he had been able to use his newfound sword fighting skills and he loved every moment of it! He grinned thinking about Yufim, who must be grumbling that he was stuck within the manor, and hadn't been able to fight any bandits. Well, that's what he got for becoming an archer instead of a great swordsman like him!

After separating from the others, he and the other guard had already killed one bandit. While the other guard had been the one to deal the finishing blow, Tesyb had given more than his fair share in the fight. And truthfully, that fight had been easy. Perhaps, too easy.

But it was also true that the bandit had been alone, so they had the advantage of numbers on their side, and even then, they had been able to surprise the bandit who had been holding a woman hostage while her husband brought all their grain and coin to him. That had led to the other guard being able to injure the bandit heavily in his arm - his sword fighting arm - in the first strike, and it hadn't taken long to finish him up after that. And now, they were running again to see if there was another bandit nearby.

And Tesyb couldn't wait for it! He had never thought he would be saying something like this before he became a guard, but as it turned out, he loved fighting! Before he was recruited, all he ever did which could be counted as fighting was to break up a few brawls between other coal miners in the alehouse. He had always been bigger than most of the other miners, and that had helped him a lot in his life.

But as it turned out, he also had a knack for fighting with a sword, and he had even defeated a few guards in their mock fights! That proved that he was already very good with a sword! Suddenly, they heard the sound of a woman screaming in fear from somewhere nearby. The other guard looked at him, and he quickly nodded in reply, before they changed their direction and started to run as fast as they could towards the sound.

While he knew that this was far from a good time for the villagers - like the one whose voice he'd heard - Tesyb couldn't wait to fight again! He couldn't help but grin, since he knew the coming fight wouldn't be too difficult anyway, since he was an expert swordsman now. The earlier victory over that bandit had even proved it! Before long, they turned a corner and it didn't take more than a moment for Tesyb to understand was happening.

There were two bandits here - one of them being a really huge guy - who were threatening a big family, and he had reached there just at the moment when that bandit was going to strike down a young guy - who was probably still a boy, since he looked only around sixteen years old or so - while he was bravely trying to protect two little girls hiding behind him. Seeing that scene enraged him thoroughly, and with a roar, he ran towards that bandit, and tried to jab him with his sword.

The bandit was surprised for a moment, but he recovered easily, and he turned his sword away from trying to kill that kid to defend himself, and both of their swords struck with a loud clang. Tesyb took advantage of the fact that he had surprised the huge bandit, and quickly slashed his sword towards him again. Once again, the bandit had to scramble to defend himself, moving back a step in the process. He grinned once again. This was going to be just as easy as he had thought!

He took a moment to quickly look around him, and he saw that the other guard had already engaged the second bandit - who had dropped a sack he was carrying - and they were also striking each other rapidly, the sound of their swords ringing loudly in the night. The rest of the people had gathered together on one side, next to some villager's shack - where an older man had fallen on the ground. Hopefully, he wasn't dead, but he couldn't really tell for sure.

Apart from the boy who was protecting the girls, there were two other much younger boys who were crying loudly in fear, while an older woman - probably their mother - was holding them close. For a moment, he thought that he should recognize the man who had fallen on the ground, but then he blinked and looked towards the towering bandit. Right now, the most important thing was for him to kill this bastard.

With more than enough confidence, he pulled his sword back and jabbed towards the huge bandit again, but this time the bandit was more than ready for him, and easily deflected his sword away, and struck back towards him swiftly. Tesyb barely managed to prevent that sword from taking his head off by holding his sword in the way, but that strike shook his arms so much that his sword nearly fell from his hands - such was the power behind the bandit's strike.

Taking a quick breath, he held his sword in front of him once again, and slowly circled around the bandit, who was also ready with his sword, but looked far more confident now. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. That made him frown. Why was the bandit looking so confident now? Wasn't he able to glean Tesyb's sword fighting prowess from those few strikes? He had to know that he wouldn't survive for long, right? Or was the bandit an even better fighter than him?

No, that wasn't possible. Tesyb snorted. This was a bandit - who lived in the forest like an animal! It's not like the bandit would have gotten training as a Count's knight! He was worrying for nothing. Shaking his head quickly to remove those weird thoughts from his head, he focused again on the huge bandit in front of him.

And right at the moment when both of them took the next step while circling each other, Tesyb quickly lunged forward with his sword pointing at the bandit's neck, hoping to end his life quickly. But the bandit scoffed, and easily struck his sword to the side with his own blade, and slashed back towards his chest. Tesyb immediately bent backwards to protect himself - with the bandit's sword just scraping his well-used leather armor - but he lost his balance, and fell backwards on the ground.

Instantly, the bandit grinned and taking a quick step towards him, he jabbed his sword directly towards Tesyb's chest. For a moment, Tesyb was so surprised about the fact that he was on the defense now, that he didn't know what to do. But the recent training with Hudan and other guards came in handy, and his body rolled to the side just before the sword hit him. He quickly jumped back to his feet and found that thankfully, his sword was still in his hand. But why was this happening? Why did he even have to defend?

The bandit should be dead by now! How was it that his skills seemed useless in front of this huge bastard? He exhaled once, and tried to focus on the moment. Once again, both of them started circling each other, with the bandit looking quite confident now, while Tesyb grimaced thinking about what was happening. He took the initiative once more, and taking a quick step to the right to feint a strike from that side, he quickly pivoted back towards the left and jabbed his sword ahead.

But once again, the bandit easily slashed his strike sidewards with his sword, and kicked him directly in his chest with his huge boots, making him fall down again, while losing his sword in the process. Now his mind was in full panic, and he didn't know what to do. The bandit took a step forward, and instead of ending his life immediately, he gloated, "So this is your best, huh? I'm disappointed. For a moment, I'd thought that I'd get a real fight after years! But you are just as useless as everyone else!"

Wishing that he still had his sword in his hands, Tesyb looked to his right where it had fallen barely a yard away from him. He slowly inched his hand towards his sword, hoping he'd be able to grab it again while the bandit was talking. Further ahead in that direction, the children had become quiet, probably exhausted after crying so much, but they were still looking towards the fight with wide eyes.

The rest of that family was also looking in their direction with fear, knowing what would happen to them if he died here. Tesyb didn't know how the other fight was going, but from the bandit's grin, it couldn't be too good for the village. The bandit bragged again instead of dealing the finishing blow.

"But you know, there is no shame in losing to me. You still did good. And before I send you to the goddess, you should be glad to know that you were defeated by the mighty Lord Nokozal." And then the huge bandit held that sword vertically in both of his hands, ready to pierce his chest in a single strike. Tesyb's whole life flashed in front of him at that moment. His parents would lose their only son tonight. He would never be able to show Isuha that he worked as a manor guard now.

He would never be able to prove to the new baron that he was really good with his skills. That he could be trusted to hold his own in a fight... Was this it then? Was this the end of his life as a manor guard? But why? He thought he was really good at sword fighting! He had even been able to disarm other guards when fighting with a wooden sword! Or had the euphoria of that earlier victory with that outnumbered bandit simply distorted his perspective?

Had he just become way too confident in his skills, even though he didn't have any experience to back it up? He gave a resigned sigh. Well, it didn't matter anymore, since he didn't see how he could survive this. He just hoped that the bandits would spare his parents and the baron would take care of them just as he had promised when recruiting him as a guard. He also hoped that this bastard called Nokozal ended his life in a single strike instead of making it too painful for him.

But as he saw the end of his life right in front of him, he knew that he still had regrets. If only he had another chance to prove himself... If only he had practiced more with his sword before coming here tonight... If only he hadn't been overconfident about his completely untested sword-fighting skills... And then the moment of contemplation had passed, and he saw Nokozal's sword descending towards him, with only moments remaining before he left this world with so many regrets.