I’ll Use a Reverse-Edged Sword

“Was that iaido?”
The long-haired handsome man among the approaching men asks, glaring at me as their representative.
“You’re a man of few words.”
While it would be good if they quietly picked up their fallen comrade and left, they were looking at me with quite hostile gazes.
“You say you’re a noble? Do we look like ordinary citizens who cower before nobles to you?”
The man was pressing me with quite a fierce demeanor, and the five men behind him also had their hands on their weapons, showing signs of being ready to start a fight at any moment.
Of course, our knights, led by Raymond, had long since approached me and taken a stance to protect me.
Even Talon, who had been briefly exchanging verbal jabs with me earlier, was glaring at the opponents with fierce eyes, like a knight who clearly separates public and private matters.

“Of course you’re not ordinary people. Seeing how you associate with this dimwitted troublemaker.”
I provoked the opponent by lightly kicking the muscular man who had collapsed on the floor and was still unconscious.
At this, the long-haired man frowned deeply and asked the same thing again.

“I’ll ask once more. Was that iaido? It was just a moment, but my eyes couldn’t follow that movement.”
Was he asking me out of pure curiosity based on martial arts?

“Your brevity is still bothering me.”
Instead of answering obediently, I continued the psychological warfare with him.
We weren’t that outnumbered, and I was also not used to being spoken to informally by a stranger.

“Young Master.”
Meanwhile, Talon approaches me and whispers in my ear.
“…?”
“It seems these guys… are not ordinary ruffians.”

Now that he mentions it, I could feel that their posture and aura were not at an ordinary level.
Quite clear and confident gazes.

“Right, I see… They’re fallen knights.”
Hearing my words, the long-haired handsome man neither seemed surprised nor boastful, but there was quite a commotion among the Wydro family trade group members sitting at other tables.

“Fa… Father…”
“Luna, stay calm for now.”

After the identity of these men came out of my mouth, the Wydro family trade group members, including Luna, showed quite anxious appearances.
Even Hanson, the trade group leader and Luna’s father, despite his seemingly calm expression, had sweat dripping from his forehead.

“Fallen knights… It’s been a while since I’ve heard that term.”
The long-haired man continued speaking.
“Then, do you know who that person you just attacked is?”
“Do I need to know? And I said it bothers me whether you’re fallen knights or whatever, speaking informally.”

One man quietly walks out from behind the long-haired man and carefully picks up the muscular man who had collapsed.
After confirming this, the long-haired man speaks to me again.

“This is Lord Heden. Alistair Heden. The younger brother of Alistair Harmon, who led the Gwynns Knight Order.”

As the long-haired man’s voice echoed through the restaurant, this time there were voices of commotion among our knights.

“The Alistair brothers? The younger brother of Alistair Harmon, the former commander of the Gwynns Knight Order?”
“This… this is…”

Only Raymond and I, who were rather ignorant of worldly matters, were blankly staring at each other,
while the rest of the knights, including Talon, seemed to know the name Alistair quite well and started to be quite agitated.

“It seems your companions know this person’s name?”
The long-haired man’s expression now showed arrogance.
Although the situation was numerically even, it seemed he judged that our side’s morale had already dropped, swayed by their reputation.

However,
An answer that the long-haired man hadn’t expected came out of my mouth.

“Whether that foolish guy is an Alistair brother or whatever, it has nothing to do with me. You seem to like flaunting names, so I’ll tell you mine too. I am Castillo Eden, son of Baron Castillo David. I’m a noble.”

The reason for adding ‘noble’ was clear. A warning to stop speaking informally.
Whether they were from a renowned knight order or whatever, it really didn’t matter to me.
After all, novel protagonists don’t shrink back and cower at such flimsy reputations.

“Castillo Eden… An arrogant noble young master… Growing up as a hothouse flower, you probably haven’t experienced the terrors of the world yet… Foolish bastard. You will regret today for a long time. I guarantee it.”

The long-haired man spoke with a serious expression, trying to intimidate.
At his brutal warning, the faces of our knights and the Wydro people all turned pale.
But, could we at least avoid danger for now?
The long-haired man finished speaking and gave a signal to his companions behind him.
Then, including the one carrying Alistair Heden, all the men moved in an orderly fashion towards the exit.

But…

“Who said you could just leave?”
I had no intention of letting them go like this.

“You insufficient fool, you’re really hastening your death.”

Led by the long-haired man, all the men behind him took out their weapons,
and all our knights drew their swords as well.

“Y-Young Master, what are you doing?”
“That’s right, Young Master. These aren’t just fallen knights, they’re with the Alistair brothers. It… it would be wise to avoid this situation for now.”

All the knights, led by Talon, made groaning sounds.
Only Raymond was focusing on his combat stance, pointing his drawn sword at them without a word of complaint.

“Um… why don’t we all calm down… Eden, young master, how about letting these people go for now?”

As the situation seemed to be getting more and more serious, Wydro Hanson approached me and spoke.
The trade group members and Luna had already evacuated to a corner of the restaurant, and only Hanson had barely come to me, sweating profusely.

“They already know our family name and have seen the crest, and have also confirmed the Wydro family’s trade journey. Moreover, they’ve firmly warned of future retaliation. We can’t just let them go obediently like this.”

Wydro Hanson sent me a desperate look as if to say ‘Why on earth are you doing this?’, but my resolve was firm.

“Yes, that iaido from earlier… It seems you have one decent move despite being a noble young master, but I’ve already figured out your technique. I think I can also guess the skill level of your guard knights without even seeing it.”

Didn’t he say earlier that he couldn’t follow with his eyes and missed it…
Expecting a bloody sword fight, the long-haired man also seemed a bit tense and spoke differently from before.

Schwing

“…?”

The long-haired man’s eyes widened.
The reverse-edged sword had been drawn from my scabbard with a crisp sound.

“Are… are you saying you won’t use iaido?”
“Who said I only have iaido?”
“That… wait, your sword”

Only then did he notice that my sword was not ordinary and was surprised again.

“Isn’t the blade… blunt? Why such a toy-like sword-“
“If the blade was proper, would your boss’s face just be swollen like that? Wouldn’t it already be split in half?”

It was an obvious statement, but for some reason, no one had noticed it.
If I had cut the opponent with iaido, he should have already died bleeding profusely,
but there was no blood visible on Alistair Heden’s face other than a nosebleed.

“I’m concerned that a brawl might cause too much damage to someone else’s shop. All of you, put away your weapons.”

My order was directed at our knights.
At first, they all seemed not to understand properly and just stood blankly, but soon Raymond, who realized the meaning of my words, protested to me.

“Eden, what are you saying, are you cra- I mean, Young Master, please reconsider rationally and withdraw your order…”

I shook my head without any particular answer to Raymond’s concern, and Raymond and the knights looked at each other before finally sheathing their swords.

“Hahaha… What is this… Even in my days as a knight, I saw many who were wrapped up in heroism like you and invited their own deaths. Today, I’ll have an enjoyable experience after a long time.”

Seeing our knights sheathe their swords and me alone holding a strange sword with the blade on the back,
they stupidly sneered.

But

Swoosh

My body, drawing the reverse-edged sword, was elegant and swift like a fish in water.

Thud
Crack
Smack

I reached the closest distance to the man at the front and delivered the most efficient strike.
My movements were literally as fast and unpredictable as sparks flying everywhere.

Swish
Thud

“What… what is this! Form up! Aaargh!”
“Right side! No… lef- Aaargh!!”

Thwack

Still, being former knights, they tried to respond calmly to my lightning-fast movements.

Swish
Thwack
Thud
Thud

However, the fight ends miserably in less than 20 seconds.
There were six men with swords, but not a drop of blood flowed in the restaurant, and they all got hit and fell to the floor one by one.

“Hik… ugh… you bastard…”

The long-haired man, who was the first to get hit in the stomach and was now crawling on the floor groaning in pain, looks at me with an expression of disbelief and shouts.

“You… what are you! How could you with that toy-like sword-“

I approached him and calmly murmured.

“It’s a disgrace to use a real sword against the likes of you.”

With my words, as even the long-haired man fainted, our knights who had been watching were stunned for a moment before hurriedly running over to start tying up the men.