The Drunkard (2) - 6

"And why are you training in the dark?"

Being bombarded by questions, I couldn't help but sigh exasperatedly.

"I drink because it's part of my sword technique, and I'm training in the dark to improve my eyesight, with the training being even better due to the fact that I'm drinking alcohol, making it so that I can still fight even when under the influence of drugs, especially hallucinogens."

"..."

I could tell that he was skeptical, but it wasn't like my arguments didn't make any sense.

"How many fingers am I holding up right now?"

'Wow, he really decided to go for that in the end?'

"Two, one that you're showing me, and one that's hidden behind your back."

"Damnit."

I mean, what did he expect for using the oldest trick in the book?

And it wasn't like I had just completely guessed, I could actually see the fine particles of mana running through his body, and that was why I was able to figure out that he had one finger up, as the mana particles outlined his body in a bright orange that was clear for me to see.

"Hey, I'm bored, you wanna spar?"

"S-sure?"

Replying reflexively, Messy (my nickname for him) was a little confused by what he said at first, taking a second to process the situation, before looking down at me confidently.

After all he was 10 years old whilst I was only 5 and drunk, so anybody should have been able to guess the outcome of this duel.

But hey, I was the final villain, there was no way this slightly important side character could even compare to me, he died by my hands in my first life after all.

I mean, I knew all of his moves and all of his habits too, from the kid's incredibly detailed character designs and from fighting him a lot back then, so, the "spar" ended pretty quickly.

"Again."

Standing back up, Messy held up his sword in front of him and challenged me to a rematch after I had whooped his ass by immediately hitting him lightly in the legs before swinging my sword around to his neck and kicking his legs out from under him.

And he ended up face down again within a second of the second match starting.

"Again."

"..."

"Again."

"..."

"Again!"

"..."

"Again!"

"..."

"AGAIN!"

"..."

"AGAI..."

"Stop, you're not learning anything. You're just picking yourself up and throwing yourself recklessly at your enemy. Learn from every defeat, that's the mindset you should have right now. It's already clear that you'll never defeat me with your current abilities, so focus on getting better instead of just holding onto your fragile winner's mindset."

And then, after that, I left him and never met him again for the next five years.

I wanted for him to be as marinated as possible for our last rematch before he was shuttled off to the academy.

...

During the five year time skip, I had become an alcoh... I mean, I had been training without rest.

Sure, I was only able to use a training sword at all times, as I wasn't ever going to show my blood weapon anywhere in public, but still, training with a regular sword still provided me with the necessary tools that I needed.

As for any side studies that I had, well, I had completely immersed myself in drawing, practicing by sketching out all these "mangas, manhwas, and manhuas" that were from the kid's universe, "Earth".

Hmm... maybe I could go sell them. I was already going to make the triumvirate a thing, and this would only help it.

And, just like my swordsmanship, I got really good at it, and so now, my trump card was ready, locked and loaded.

The only problem really during these 5 years was the fact that I had stayed locked up in my room the entire time, not even training with a dummy, as I just fought with a "shadow" projected from my mind.

This allowed me to train as fully as possible with my new techniques, as there was nobody watching me, forbidden to actually, as the rooms of the Young Masters and Mistresses of the Aeronwen House were strictly off limits.

Anyways, the problem was that I spent all of this time in total solitude, with only some interactions with the maid that brought me food, clothes, and drew my bath for me each day.

From my knowledge, I knew that she was an assassin sent to watch over me, but I gave her almost zero time to look at my body anyways, so her job had basically become nonexistent by now, well, her side job that is.

She was doing completely fine as a maid.

Well, that was enough about what I had been doing these past few years, what truly was important was the fact that Messy was leaving to go to Halcyon tomorrow.

So, today would be the last day that he could have a match with me, to show what he had learned over all these years.

I mean, I certainly didn't really care about him, but it was nice to have someone owe you a favor. You never know when you would need a draw on a favor in the future, so it was in my best interest to gain a favor from Messy, who was one of the ones chosen to be in the running to become an heir to the Aeronwen family after all.

In the outside world, his skills were no joke. I was just too overpowered, and that would only change once I reached Halcyon.

Of course, I wasn't just going to sit here doing nothing though, so, I would do my best so that I became overpowered when going to Halcyon too.

So, I drew a bird on a piece of paper with my special pen, using my technique immediately afterwards to create my first ever "inception" after coming into this world.

Then, letting it wait on my shoulder, I quickly wrote a letter with all the formalities that one needed to use when speaking with the two people that I would send this letter to, before handing it to the bird and instructing it to deliver it to them.

Standing up now that that was done, I readjusted my clothes before stepping out of my room for the first time in five years.

"Chione! You're finally out! Spar with me right now, I'll show you what I've learned all these years."

'Hmm... seems like he kept me in his heart all this time, I even became his driving force! How amusing...'

"Okay."

That was my only reply, before we both headed to the training room.

He had a determined expression burning on his face, whilst I just had my usual drunk, indifferent one.

And so, coming into this fight with this flaming determination, he immediately attacked me as soon as we pulled our swords out.

"Clang!"