When people talk about duels between swordsmen, they tend to focus on the skills of both sides.
Among the upper-class circles on the east coast, led by the Padrosi Empire, any discussion of swordsmanship usually involves dazzling variations of moves and various complicated names of swordsmanship moves. It is like a black and white chess game where you come and go to show off moves. After half a day of discussion, we couldn't come up with a result.
Technology is regarded as an extremely important factor among the upper-class Lamanite aristocracy, especially the younger generation.
In fact, technology can indeed play a considerable role in many battles.
But it may not be as important as they think.
The next second after the young man pulled out the one-handed long sword with a complicatedly decorated gauntlet at his waist, he kicked the stirrup, pulled the reins, and attacked Henry. The old man behind him with his slicked back hair showed a surprised expression, but this fake smile could not escape the sage's eyes - the deep eyes of the face with a big gray beard were calm and composed, without any trace of emotion. He seemed unprepared for this.
Thinking about it, as people who came to find their own lady, only two people were sent, so the two of them must be familiar with each other. So it was not unexpected for the young man to do such a thing, but the old man stayed put, neither helping nor stopping, and he was obviously planning something.
It was electric and flint, and everyone present had different focuses and thoughts.
Unlike Henry, who could focus on other things, Mira's attention was focused on the obvious crisis. With just a glance, she understood that this young man was also someone who had studied swordsmanship. When the one-handed sword in the other person's hand was put in the sheath, it looked the same as Margaret's rapier, but after it was pulled out, the sword's edge The appearance of at least 4 centimeters in width gives another explanation.
The fancy bayonet sword used by the upper class of Padrosi was extremely slender, and its thin and narrow blade provided excellent piercing performance, but it was only suitable for one-on-one duels between nobles. This is a civilized weapon. Compared with a tool that has been tested and designed only to kill the enemy on the battlefield of flesh-and-blood combat, it pays more attention to "making the noble die dignified and elegant." Therefore, in terms of design, it was impossible to perform slashes that would make the scene bloody, miserable and disgusting. Instead, it could only cause punctures and stabs, so that even if the nobles participating in the duel died, "the blood stained the gorgeous and exquisite clothes red, and the face turned pale." , slowly fell to the ground" and died relatively decently.
This is the pursuit of a gentle and decent civilized person, but the Padrosi Empire is far from being a gentle and considerate country.
The history of this thousand-year empire is made of blood and bones. The long sword carried by the breastplate worn by the girl is the result of this highly developed war culture. Therefore, as the other side of the elegant bayonet, the Padrosi Empire also has cruel tools that are as lethal as the barbaric West Coast.
"Splitting Sword" Mira whispered the extremely concise name of the one-handed sword decorated with elegant handguards but with a gleaming blade in front of it, and she was running slowly towards this side on horseback and even accelerated her charge. The young man, who had no intention of doing anything, moved his body back and planned to swing at Henry's face. Obviously, he still had reservations and did not want to kill anyone, but just wanted to vent his anger and give the sage a blow.
"Stupid Qing." Mira came to the conclusion in a flash. Even Margaret, who knew nothing about swordsmanship and even some confusion about the situation, had a desire at this moment. The urge to hold your forehead and sigh.
Obviously, this person regarded Henry as a low-level mercenary that could be seen everywhere.
And he was overly confident in his own skills.
Youdao is a layman watching the excitement but an expert watching the door. People who are familiar with fighting and swordsmanship can always judge the opponent's intentions and even personality from many details such as the standing posture and sword-holding posture of others - this Laman nobleman in his early 20s The young man deliberately controlled the horse not to reach full speed. He raised the long sword in his hand exaggeratedly and yelled in an attempt to make everyone around him focus on him. His body leaned back in order to get more control on the horse. Good balance.
He calculated the attack distance, and what he planned was to swing an accurate blow at the moment when he passed by Henry - it would not really hit, but just miss the sage.
It is very performative, wanting to catch people's attention, wanting to attract other people's attention - and who the object of attraction is, the answer is obvious.
Show it to Margaret, and use his handsome and show-off skills to scare the tall mercenary to the point where he sits on the ground. All these lower-level mercenaries knew was simple block and counterattack, proving to Margaret that this guy was just a tall empty frame, but actually there was nothing inside.
A complete show off, in the eyes of young people this will be a one-sided performance.
"..." Henry was silent. He heard Mira's stunned words clearly, and the sage made roughly the same conclusion about the young man in front of him.
"Whoosh--" The long sword was swung down at an exaggerated angle, but Henry had already dodged it sideways as if taking a leisurely stroll before it was swung down. "Uh-" The young man was stunned for a moment, but after all he had some basic skills. He pulled the reins to slow down the war horse, turned around with the long sword in his hand, and slashed again, but this time he used an extra hand to chop. Halfway through, he suddenly changed direction from a vertical slash aimed at the head to a flip of the wrist, creating an arc and striking at the neck.
He had practiced this change of move to perfection, and it happened in just half a second. But Henry was still strolling around, easily dodging it without even having to draw his sword.
"..." No matter how young and impulsive he was, he still noticed something extraordinary about this man after being avoided twice in a row. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Margaret looking at him intently - at least he thought she was - looking at him. The young man blushed for a moment, a burst of air burst out from his chest, and he grabbed the saddle. He turned over and jumped to the ground. Then he slapped the horse's butt to keep the horse away, obviously to make Henry look good.
"Filippo, stop it!" Seeing that the situation was about to turn unfavorable to his companions, the old man behind him finally spoke to stop him. The young man named Filippo's face turned red and he looked as menacing as a sharp sword out of its sheath, which was in sharp contrast to the calm sage. But more than his expression and attitude, the most important thing was the height difference between the two.
Filippo was a typical Lamanite young man. He was only less than 1.7 meters tall and looked like a child standing in front of Henry. And as we mentioned before, although most people, especially among the upper class circles on the East Coast, advocate "technological invincibility", from a practical point of view.
Technology is not as important as they think.
There is a proverb in the Gulaman Empire: "One force can defeat ten groups."
Physique and strength account for up to 60% of the importance in combat, while skill only accounts for 30%, and the remaining 10% is luck.
When an excellent swordsman who is only about 1.7 meters tall holds a long sword and faces a strong man over 1.9 meters tall wielding a huge wooden stick and swings it around, it is the former rather than the latter who loses.
When the physiques are almost the same, technology can indeed play a key role in victory. But when the two sides are not in the same weight class, the side with the advantage does not even need to consider using any techniques. Just like what our Mr. Sage has been doing - he just needs to slash and make sure to hit the enemy.
Because of his physique and strength combined with the attack distance and weight of the great sword Claymore, as long as he hits, the opponent will basically be killed or injured.
and.
Even if it’s to talk about technology.
This young man is also far less than one thousandth of Henry.
"Snapped--!"
There is no end to the entanglement with this stupid young man. If you don't let him realize the huge gap between the two sides, he will continue to struggle again and again.
So Henry wasn't going to waste any more time.
"Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much"
So fast that almost no one could see clearly what was happening, Filippo's sword fell to the ground.
Henry took a step closer and used the bulge of the breastplate to push away Filippo's sword blade. Then he went around his armpit and lifted it, and then used the other hand to forcefully press the palm of his sword. With one shot, the disarm was successfully completed.
He made perfect use of the armor on his body, his movements were as smooth and familiar as flowing clouds and water, and his speed was as fast as thunder and wind, catching people off guard.
"You, you - you, how did you -" Filippo froze on the spot. He patted his body in panic and looked around as if there were two Henrys and the other sneaked in without him knowing. When he arrived, there was no one around him. In the end, he could only accept the historical fact that he was deceived and disarmed even though he was clearly holding a sharp blade in an attacking posture.
"I-I-" His self-confidence was high before, but now Filippo's fall was so heavy.
The one-sided teasing that he wanted to show off has now become a dish served to him. What made this all the more serious was that it happened in front of Margaret.
"I -" Filippo blushed, but couldn't say a word for a long time.
"..." The old man behind him narrowed his eyes and looked at the sage.
Henry Lu's clean disarming was not for show. Mira, who had been following her teacher for quite some time, knew this. There are users of half-handed swords, two-handed swords and one-handed swords on both the east and west coasts of the Inland Sea of Mobigas. Since the weapons are basically the same, the techniques for using them are naturally similar.
Not to mention the vast majority of ordinary people and lower-level mercenaries, even those who systematically learn swordsmanship such as nobles and swordsmen and swordsmen, their basic routines, judgment of distance, control of stance and center of gravity, and swing methods are all the same. Drawn from a mold.
What distinguishes the swordsmanship systems of the East and West coasts is the concept and details of advanced advanced swordsmanship.
Take close combat as an example. Henry has demonstrated one or two of the West Coast style sword fighting melee moves in the wetland area. He uses half-sword sword skills to shorten the overall length of the long sword and use it as a dagger or blunt weapon to attack with other parts of the sword.
On the east coast, especially among the upper class circles of the Padrosi Empire, the swordsmanship system with a history of hundreds of years and the practice of close combat are just like what the sage is currently demonstrating.
A disarming movement that was as standard as a textbook and so fast that almost no one could see it clearly.
Both parties were understanding people, and Henry used actions rather than feeble words to convey his meaning.
"You can't beat me, don't bring shame on yourself." Although he didn't speak, he expressed this meaning correctly.
Face is extremely important to nobles. In the history of Padrosi, there was even a vicious incident in which the loser in a duel, after being spared by the winner, not only retaliated by poisoning his whole family, but also killed all the spectators present one by one. Although this small village There were not many farmers nearby, but Henry did not go too far, but left a step for the other party to go down.
God knows and the earth knows, it’s good that you know and I know. For some things, it’s best to leave this layer of window paper and don’t pierce it.
The white-haired old man fell silent, and Filippo also turned his head silently and picked up his stabbing sword.
The opponent was not a mindless lower-level mercenary. After only two or three moves, he understood that this tall mercenary was strong enough to crush him in what he was good at.
Because when he did all this, he was still wearing a piece of plate armor and carrying several weapons including daggers.
But I, who should have been more flexible in light clothing, didn't even have the chance to react.
"Miss, here are you two. Please rest nearby and have a long talk." The old man pulled the reins, causing the horse to walk towards this side, and then said.
"You go first, I have to hand in the task." Henry took the reins of the mixed-haired dog from Mira's hands without looking at him, then turned around and planned to walk towards the other side.
"Well, this matter is very important. Please--" The old man looked a little embarrassed, but the sage just shrugged: "Of course, so am I."
"These are two copper coins!" Henry said, and then walked towards the other side without looking back. Mira behind him rolled her eyes again. The old man with white hair and a slicked back finally couldn't hold back anymore. He raised his hand and opened his mouth to tell Henry to stop, but Margaret stopped him at this moment. Got him.
"Leave it to him, Ferruccio, my loyal butler." Even though she was dirty, Margaret still showed an air of nobility when facing her retainers. She glanced at Filippo, who walked over to take back his horse with some dejection, and then continued: "When we first met, someone drew a sword and yelled at him. I think it is normal for Mr. Mel to want to walk away for a while."
"I'm sincerely afraid, Miss, please understand Filippo's impulse." Ferruccio, who was sitting on the horse and was condescending, bowed respectfully and defended Leng Tou Qing, while Margaret was stunned for a while, sighed, and said She spoke in a mature tone that was not suitable for her age, but linked to her aristocratic status and made Mira next to her feel very natural.
"You must have received my message, so in the end, it was uncle again." She said this, and Mira noticed that the housekeeper Ferruccio glanced at her when he heard this word, Then he winked at Margaret, as if to advise her not to talk about this kind of thing in front of outsiders.
"Well, this is indeed not a good place to talk." Margaret said this, and the four of them walked towards the farmhouse where they stayed in the village.
How Filippo and Ferruccio tracked them down, there is no need to ask. After all, although they decided not to report to the mercenary union, they did not disguise themselves in any way to avoid being seen. After a little investigation around the town of Chester, it is not difficult to find traces.
But there were thirty or forty guards in the courtyard, but they only sent two pursuers, and one of them was a high-ranking housekeeper. Even our white-haired Luoan girl could smell something fishy. smell.
However, she and Margaret were only in an employer-employee relationship, so after arriving at the residence where they were temporarily staying, only the butler Ferruccio and the aristocratic lady walked in. Mira and Filippo, who was holding the horse and looking depressed, stayed outside the door, acting as guards.
This seemingly impulsive young man only noticed the presence of the Luoan girl after he calmed down. He seemed to have never seen a human being with white hair before, maybe it was just the nature of adolescent males. In short, the glances that glanced at Mira from time to time made the girl's slender and beautiful eyebrows wrinkle together.
Young boys in their teens to early twenties always have this kind of character, they are competitive. Once there are girls of similar age nearby, their desire to express themselves will be amplified tenfold and a hundred times, so that they start to do things that seem a bit stupid but they It's always a cool move.
But when they are alone with girls, they will become shy again, and they will not even dare to come close to speak, but will only glance at them furtively from a distance.
"It's a big fire." The Luoan girl folded her arms and leaned against the outer wall of the house, muttering softly.
The sage, who left here under the pretext of handing in a task, did not walk over slowly until more than ten minutes later. He looked at the two people standing guard at the door, one on the left and the other on the right. Filippo's eyes looked away, and his face was somewhat still. There was a look of indignation, and Mira gave him a big eye roll.
Henry shrugged, and the next moment Margaret opened the door of the residence.
"Sorry, the team may need to be expanded a bit." She smiled apologetically at Henry and Mira, while Ferruccio slowly walked out behind her.
"If the young lady insists on taking risks, I have no right to stop her. However, please allow me, an old stubborn, to go forward together." He nodded slightly to Henry. Although he was saluting, he was neither humble nor overbearing.
"That's it, there's so much trouble."
"Okay, anyway, we mercenaries are paid to do things." Henry shrugged several times.
"It seems that we are going to be teammates for a while." Mira turned her head and glanced, and Filippo hesitated for two seconds before realizing that she was talking to him.
"Ah, hey, yes, yes, please bear with me."
The frizzy and overwhelmed look seemed to be different from the impulsive look before, but they still belonged to the same family. Mira walked towards the house and the environment turned from bright to dark. The girl shook her head and sighed softly.
"What a fool."
