Chapter 222: Before The Duel
Miyamoto Tooru’s wooden sword was no ordinary sword. This was a sword made from a special sort of wood, then soaked in exclusively made tung oil before going through a great number of other processes. This was a wooden sword, but its price was even heftier than a good sword made from metal. Also, only the Miyamoto family knew how to make one of these, so you couldn’t buy one even if you had the money.
He pointed his sword at Su Jin, and the anger in his eyes was about to spew right out. If the hall weren’t filled with aristocrats, he would have disregarded any manners required and attacked Su Jin by now.
Su Jin glanced at Kano Mai, but she only gave him an apologetic look in return. She didn’t mind the fact that Miyamoto Tooru had just challenged Su Jin to a fight. No matter how talented an ordinary martial artist was, there was almost no way they could possibly even compare to a veteran of Hell’s Handbook. The sort of training and resources an ordinary martial artist had was nowhere near what an owner had access to.
“So, if I defeat you, you’d cancel your engagement to Mai?” Su Jin asked Miyamoto Tooru.
Miyamoto Tooru hesitated for a while. His marriage to Kano Mai was a very important matter to both families. The Kano family would gain a powerful private army of sorts, while the Miyamoto family would stand to gain financially. They needed money to continue developing as martial artists too.
However, the look in Su Jin’s eyes agitated him. Su Jin didn’t look the slightest bit worried about losing. Or rather, Miyamoto Tooru felt that Su Jin was certain he wasn’t going to lose.
He refused to allow another person to step all over his pride as a martial artist, so he clenched his teeth and nodded. “Sure. If you can defeat me, then I will cancel my engagement to Miss Mai immediately. But… I also want to draw up an agreement to fight to the death! The survivor of this duel shall be the winner, and the winner cannot be prosecuted or held accountable for the loser’s death.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? If I had known it was going to be so simple, we wouldn’t have needed to go through all that bullshit earlier,” said Su Jin with a hearty laugh. The solution to Kano Mai’s problem turned out to be such a simple one.
Kano Mai rolled her eyes at Su Jin, but Su Jin had just spoken in Mandarin and very few in the hall could understand it. At least Miyamoto Tooru didn’t. But he could see from Su Jin’s expression that Su Jin was definitely looking down on him.
Kano Yuuko had great confidence in Miyamoto Tooru’s prowess, so she immediately got someone to draw up an agreement. In less than 15 minutes, an agreement was ready. It was very detailed, including Miyamoto Tooru’s request to add in the part about fighting to the death. In order to make sure Su Jin fully understood the agreement, it was also translated into Mandarin.
Su Jin nodded after looking through it once and signed it. But he asked in a puzzled voice, “Why is the duel one day later? Can’t we start the duel right now?”
“Tsk, what an uncultured fellow you are. Tooru-kun is the most outstanding master among his peers in Japan, so he needs time to get ready before a duel and let everyone in this circle come here to watch the fight. All outstanding martial artists have to take a bath and change before a duel so that their minds and bodies are in their best state. You don’t have basic knowledge and you’re hoping to defeat Tooru-kun? Looks like I’ve got to prepare a coffin for you in advance,” said Kano Yuuko as she threw Su Jin a disdainful glance.
Kano Mai frowned slightly. She was clearly on a different side from Kano Yuuko, so she wasn’t going to play nice anymore. She said frostily, “Yuuko, please watch your attitude. When you speak to my boyfriend, I hope you can have some basic respect for him.”
Kano Yuuko gritted her teeth. Deep down, she was actually still quite afraid of Kano Mai. Comparatively speaking, her jealousy, envy, and hate looked more like her way of covering up the fear in her heart.
Just like what Kano Mai said, she could make the Kano family succeed, and she could also turn the family back into that failing, third-rate family it once was. She could even cause the family to be kicked out of high society. Also, everything that Kano Yuuko had today was all thanks to Kano Mai’s efforts.
No matter how much the Kano family members disliked Kano Mai, they were unable to change the fact that Kano Mai was the family’s pillar of support. All of them had to rely on her to live.
“Let him get himself prepared then. We can start the same time tomorrow, right?” said Su Jin as he waved it off. When they fought didn’t really matter anyway.
Miyamoto Tooru glared fiercely at Su Jin, then glanced at Kano Mai before leaving the party without even looking back. After he had left, the party couldn’t go on anymore either. This party was meant for him and Kano Mai in the first place. Since one of them had already left, then it was time to end the party.
The guests slowly took their leave and Kano Mai got Ishida Shouichi to prepare a room for Su Jin. It was very clear that Kano Mai was on Su Jin’s side, so none of them, including Ishida Shouichi, dared to trip Su Jin up anymore. And based on Su Jin’s behavior at the party, this young man didn’t seem to be quite as cowardly as they had initially imagined him to be.
“He’s actually dared to accept a challenge to a duel from Miyamoto Tooru, so that’s pretty bold of him,” said Ishida Shouichi quietly.
Kano Yuuko scoffed. “He’s bold? I think he’s just dumb. He doesn’t know how formidable Tooru-kun is. I saw with my own eyes how Tooru-kun trained at a huge waterfall. He could part the waters with just one hack of his sword! That’s superhuman strength!”
Ishida Shouichi nodded and laughed. “If the previous head of the family wasn’t the one who arranged for this marriage, nobody else would know what to do with Miss Mai.”
“She’s just an abandoned baby that my grandfather picked up. Doing all these things to repay the family for saving her and bringing her up is only the right thing for her to do. But now, she’s actually trying to take over a family that wasn’t hers to begin with and spoke to me as though she’s the head of the family. She has no idea… the family is already prepared to wipe her name out. Becoming Miyamoto Tooru’s wife will be her last contribution to this family.” A fierce glint shone in Kano Yuuko’s eyes.
Kano Mai was an amazing woman who had made the Kano family powerful and enabled them to become the most influential family in the country, but she was not biologically related to the family at all. She was merely a baby who the previous head of the family had picked up one day. When he was still alive, the family trusted Kano Mai and was willing to let her remain as part of the family. But now that the old man had passed on, the family had other plans.
For example, the family wanted to make sure that the family’s assets were always in the control of a real member of the Kano family. They made use of a passing remark made by the old man before dying to make up the current situation with the intention of marrying Kano Mai off to the Miyamotos. Once that happened, Kano Mai would become a member of the Miyamoto family, so she would have to give up any control she had over the Kano family assets, while the Kano family gained the support of the Miyamoto family. This was a great plan to kill two birds with one stone.
The news that a youngster from China was going to fight the most outstanding fighter of the Miyamoto family’s younger generation spread like wildfire among the members of high society in the country. In fact, Miyamoto Tooru could even be considered the most outstanding fighter of his generation in this country. It only took half a day for people to even start collecting bets.
Kano Yuuko had made sure that the duel was only going to be held a day later precisely to allow time for these arrangements to be made. This was normal practice here, since martial artists held a rather awkward status in their society. They were good at fighting, so they were highly valued by the aristocrats but also despised at the same time. Yet when martial artists wanted a showdown, their duels were entertainment for the aristocrats, especially a fight to the death like this one.
“The Miyamotos are definitely going to win, right? A master this young is a genius that only appears once in a century after all. How could a youngster from China be his match?”
“That’s not necessarily true. China is where martial arts started and they have produced many masters as well, even in this day and age. We might have a genius like Miyamoto Tooru, but there’s no guarantee that China doesn’t have someone like him too.”
“It’s a pity we were given such short notice, so there’s no time to find out more about the opponent!”
Similar conversations could be seen among members of high society. Everyone was looking forward to this duel. One was a genius from the reputable Miyamoto family, while the other was a mysterious young man from China who could possibly be an expert in martial arts.
Meanwhile, inside the Miyamoto dojo, Miyamoto Tooru had just gotten changed into a brand new set of clothes. His expression was solemn. The family was doing very well and there was more than one kendo master in the family. But he was the youngest and the genius who had the highest chances of becoming a grandmaster.
Kano Yuuko was kneeling by his side. “Tooru-kun, everything has been prepared. I’ve also invited TV stations to do a live broadcast of the duel, so once you win the fight, that fellow will definitely be too embarrassed to cling to my sister!”
Miyamoto Tooru nodded slightly. Kano Yuuko spoke again, “Tooru-kun… you don’t have to take this so seriously. He’s just an ordinary fellow. Given your prowess, defeating him would be a piece of cake!”
Miyamoto Tooru had no expression on his face. He was a martial artist and the genius of the family, but the first words his father had for him on his first day of learning kendo was to never look down on any opponent. Putting all his effort into a fight and defeating an opponent that way was the right thing to do on his part and a show of respect to the opponent.
Besides, throughout his conversation with Su Jin, he had never seen even the slightest bit of panic in Su Jin’s eyes even though he was being challenged by a genius in martial arts. Assuming that Su Jin wasn’t a complete fool, that meant that Su Jin had a trump card of sorts.
So… was Su Jin a fool? Miyamoto Tooru had no idea. But as a formidable martial artist, his instinct was to believe that Su Jin had a trump card. He believed in the words that his father taught him.
Meanwhile, Su Jin and Kano Mai were chit chatting. They weren’t very concerned about the duel that was happening the next day, not because Su Jin was complacent and full of himself, but because they were no longer at the same level as an ordinary human. This was like a duel between a human and an ant. Surely the human didn’t have to analyze and predict what the ant would do, right?
“Miyamoto Tooru is a kendo master, so he’s definitely going to use a sword tomorrow. What about you? What weapon are you going to use?” asked Kano Mai with a smile.
Su Jin scratched his head, then his eyes suddenly lit up. “You guys have boning knives too, right? Get me one!”
“A boning knife?” Kano Mai was stunned for a moment before nodding and laughing. “Sure, I can get you a boning knife, no problem. But Miyamoto Tooru is going to use a really good sword. Do you need me to make a boning knife out of some special metal?”
“Nah. If you want to focus on what the weapon is made of, then the one I always carry around is definitely the best one,” said Su Jin as he laughed and shook his head.
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