"Hmph—that's some big talk!" Seeing Debbie's small figure level the greatsword at him and insist on fighting first, Kairui immediately put on a look of utter contempt.
Busca sneered coldly a couple of times. "My son is nothing like those two fools Quinn and Locke. He's an intermediate swordsman. Little sister Debbie, you won't last a single round against him!"
"Whether I last—ask the greatsword in my hands first!" Debbie shouted, fierce and commanding.
By now the crowd around them had finally worked out what was going on: Busca had been eyeing Anthony's Magic Cottage for a long while—all these old neighbors had known that for ages—and it looked like with Old George dead, Busca was finally making his move. He'd even brought his son along!
"Busca is just too despicable, bullying a little girl like that."
"Doesn't Anthony's Magic Cottage have a mage apprentice too?"
"That Hammerhead? Dumb as a post. Word is he only knows 【Dust Removal】 and 【Breeze】 and junk like that. What good is he at a time like this?"
"Busca is going too far. Doesn't the City Lord's estate even rein him in?"
"How would they? I heard that to pay for Old George's treatment and his funeral, Debbie borrowed five silver coins from Busca and put the magic cottage up as collateral. If she can't pay by the deadline, the cottage belongs to Busca... Hmph. A while back Busca had his people stand in front of the cottage chasing customers off, all so Debbie couldn't pay on time and the place would drop right into his hands. Shameless to the extreme!"
"With the contract binding her, there's nothing unreasonable about Busca taking the magic cottage... The City Lord's estate probably has no right to butt in!"
"Damn it, if Busca gets his hands on the magic cottage, then from now on I'll walk two extra blocks and never spend a copper in a Busca shop!"
The onlookers talked and talked, but they were only ordinary residents and had no way to step into this. Busca had even brought his rank-four swordsman son—there was nothing they could do to help even if they wanted to!
And clashes between swordsmen and mages were extremely common; deaths and injuries were hard to avoid. So long as the grounds for the fight were solid enough, even the City Lord had no right to interfere.
Amid all this talk, Busca coldly gave Kairui a few instructions, and then with a swish, Kairui drew the longsword at his waist.
Swordsmen's swords fell into several categories—short sword, longsword, rapier, medium sword, broadsword, greatsword, and so on. Depending on the sword they used, once they became high-rank swordsmen they split into various sub-classes. Debbie, for instance, used a greatsword, so upon becoming a high-rank swordsman she would grow into a greatswordsman.
This Kairui used a longsword, so one day he would grow into a longswordsman.
Kairui's longsword was no ordinary piece either: the blade was silver-bright, polished smooth and sharp, and gave off a chilling air. Like the armor Kairui wore, this sword was standard issue for the City Lord's guards.
Kairui smiled cruelly and pointed the longsword at Debbie. "Little girl, come on, play with me a while. This is my first time fighting a swordsman who uses a greatsword!"
"Hmph!"
Debbie gave a cold snort, and her small figure charged at Kairui, swinging the greatsword.
"Clang—"
Greatsword and longsword crashed together, sparks flying, the impact ringing in their ears.
Debbie's petite figure stumbled several steps backward.
Kairui, whirling his longsword, came through without a scratch, and pressed his advantage with a slash at Debbie.
Debbie hastily blocked with the greatsword, but she still couldn't keep from retreating again.
Kairui's longsword was incredibly fast, chopping down without pause. Debbie could only flail up block after block, and for a moment she had no opening at all to strike back—she simply couldn't keep up, and she looked badly hard-pressed.
The greatsword's advantage lay in the tremendous momentum of its swings; a greatswordsman's slash had the most destructive power of all. But the drawback was limited mobility—mighty attacks, and no easy defense.
The longsword struck nimbly, at extreme speed, leaving no way to guard against it.
Seeing Debbie driven back again and again from the very first exchange, Ye Chui broke out in a sweat. He slipped a hand into the bag he was carrying, ready to hurl a few scrolls over without thinking twice if Debbie got into danger.
"Kairui, don't hold back—take her out first!" Busca shouted, his face glowing red.
Ye Chui hurriedly called out too, "Debbie, if you can't do it, never mind—let me take over!"
"A rank-four swordsman moves fast—your spells can't hit him at all!" Even at a moment like this, the greatsword girl still had the spare attention to take a jab at Ye Chui... Then she suddenly sprang back, landing on the steps of the magic cottage, and while keeping a wary eye on Kairui, who was about to attack again, she said to Ye Chui, "Don't worry. I've still got a trump move!"
"A trump move?" Ye Chui blinked. "What trump move?"
"Last time Busca came, I was afraid of wrecking the goods inside the shop, so I never used it. But now that we're out on the street, I don't have to hold back." Debbie spoke with full confidence, though she was still panting. She gripped the greatsword's hilt with both hands and drew a deep breath. "Watch my trump move—the Great Top!"
Ye Chui: "The Great... the Great what now?"
As he puzzled over it, Debbie, greatsword gripped in both hands, was already spinning at speed, the huge blade blurring into one continuous ring around her body until the girl seemed to have become a giant top—a top edged with sharp blades!
Ye Chui's eyes went wide and two drops of sweat slid down his forehead. "So that's the kind of Great Top it is... Still, it seems to actually work?"
Kairui's attacks, which had held the upper hand, collapsed in an instant. He swung his longsword at the greatsword girl, but with a hollow "bong" and a burst of sparks, the longsword was batted clean aside. The onlookers recoiled in alarm, afraid of being caught up in it themselves.
Kairui, too, began to fall back. The easy, casual look on his face gave way to a certain gravity—clearly Debbie's Great Top had left him unsure what to do.
Watching all this, Ye Chui suddenly remembered how, these past days, in his spare time between inscribing scrolls, he had gone to watch Debbie practice her swordwork in the back courtyard. Most of the time he'd found her spinning in circles, swinging that greatsword...
At the time Ye Chui had thought it a bit odd; now he understood. Debbie had been doing it on purpose—making full use of the greatsword's strengths, applying the principle of centrifugal force to whirl the greatsword into a top. That completely covered the greatswordsman's weakness of slow movement: swung like that, the greatsword was practically airtight, good for both offense and defense, and best of all, because it relied on centrifugal force, the move cost almost no stamina. Simply perfect.
Looks like my dozen or so magic scrolls are completely useless... Ye Chui couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief. This Great Top of the greatsword girl's was so underhanded it was practically unbeatable.
"Kairui, hurry up and attack! Hurry!" Busca shouted urgently from beside the carriage.
Kairui looked helpless. "This... how am I supposed to attack?"
He gritted his teeth, whirled his longsword in a flourish, and charged in regardless, intending to beat her with sheer speed. In a very short span he thrust three times at Debbie.
But all that came was "clang," "clang," "clang."
All three thrusts were batted aside by the greatsword!
Worse still, the girl in top mode moved surprisingly fast as well; the very instant she knocked aside Kairui's longsword, she shot straight up to him.
"Rrrip—"
The greatsword's blade sliced into Kairui's armor without the slightest resistance.
The magic runes on the armor lit up at once, activating its defensive power to disperse the damage as much as possible—but even so, a brilliant burst of firelight was impossible to keep from spraying off the armor.
The tremendous force of the impact sent Kairui flying backward, and he slammed hard into Busca's carriage.
With a crash, the carriage came apart.
The driver, who had been standing by the carriage watching the commotion, leaped aside with a yelp of pain, and the horse still harnessed to it bolted away in fright.
Rank-two swordsman Debbie, with this single trump move, the Great Top, had actually brought down the rank-four swordsman Kairui!
Debbie, who had been spinning so fast, came to a stop and propped herself up on the greatsword. Her face was rather red, she was gasping for breath, and her eyes were fixed on Kairui where he lay in the wreckage of the carriage.
"Debbie, he was only knocked down just now—he isn't hurt!" Ye Chui had noticed something and hurried to Debbie's side to tell her.
"I know. Watch my Great Top... Blaargh!"
Mid-sentence, Debbie leaned on the greatsword and threw up, the world spinning around her.
Not to exaggerate—she even brought up the noodles Ye Chui had cooked for lunch yesterday...
—Spin in circles for a few minutes straight, and anyone would end up like that.
Everyone around them: "..."
Debbie retched a while, wiped the corner of her mouth, and took hold of the greatsword again. "...Watch my Great Top finish him off!"
"...You'd better rest a bit." Ye Chui patted Debbie's shoulder, a little sweat on his brow. "Leave the rest to me."