Timber grinned at me, as if he was fully enjoying himself even as the water on his shoulders and hair continued to slowly dry. However, I could also see the focus in his eyes, almost shining while clearly watching my moves. Alright, so this guy is stronger than I figured. Fine, let’s just go with an all-out attack.

  I executed a flurry of attacks that flowed into one another, already anticipating that Timber would defend against them. However, even if his strength was matching mine, I should still have greater speed. I suddenly moved to his side after the initial series of attacks. I expected him to react to this, and he did seem to start to turn, but this was a feint. I quickly switched up my attack again, and aimed at his hand, attempting to disarm him. My attack was just about to connect, but he suddenly shifted his hand, and we crossed swords. In a split second, I had to decide whether to attempt to overpower him here or correctly predict where he would move his sword next, so that I could pre-empt the move and attempt to knock his sword away.

  I chose to use my strength to push his sword back, but he also chose to push against me as well, causing us both to stay where we were as our blades began to grind against one another. Okay, let’s slide my sword against his then to break free and knock his sword to the side. Again, Timber matched my movements with equal strength, and our swords separated. I quickly went back on the attack and our swords crossed again. I used my strength again, and again, we found ourselves evenly matched. This time, though, I intended to go all-out with my power. I couldn’t charge up any more bolts, but I tried to make even the slightest changes to my posture and footing to overpower Timber. He matched me again, and our swords remained locked as we both dug into the ground.

  I’m not sure how he was matching me so well, but if it was someone who knew my movements perfectly, they should actually have an advantage here. At the very least, Timber wasn’t reading my thoughts, so doing something unexpected here could still give me the win. As I continued to match my strength with Timber, I considered adjusting my position and using my other hand to hold my sword. However, that wasn’t really my style. I shifted my position slightly, almost leaning in too much, which caused me to begin losing the face-off. But, I quickly brought my other hand forward and grabbed at Timber’s sword arm. Using that hand, I started to twist Timber’s arm, causing his sword to tilt lower, now starting to give me the advantage. As I did this though, Timber suddenly spread out his legs and drastically lowered his stance. I could now easily bring his sword down with mine, but it was to a far greater degree than I expected. However, it still wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I still had one hand on his sword arm, and with the sword even lower and away from protecting him, all I had to do was quickly slash or thrust.

  It only took a fraction of a second to quickly process the sudden move and decide on the optimal course of action, but it was an even smaller fraction of a second too slow. I attacked, but just as my sword was going to make contact, he grabbed the wrist of my sword arm with his free hand and then kicked off the ground. With my level of strength, the weight of his body pulling me down wasn’t massive, but it was enough to slow me down to the point where I was unable to properly defend myself against him kneeing me in the leg. Now, it was far from a clean hit given his position and the way we were grabbing at each other, but due to the great strength behind it, it caused me to buckle slightly. This gave Timber the opportunity to try to wrench his sword arm free from my hold and slash at me. I still held on tight, but he was able to rotate his arm just enough to attempt the attack. The sword connected against the side of my hide armour, but it was a weak attack that didn’t manage to cut through anything as I was still mostly restraining his arm.

  However, it was still very dangerous for me to have his sword in that sort of position. My next move was to try and take advantage of having a higher position. I leaned in more with my feet while also pulling down on his sword arm. I attempted to utilize gravity as I tried to also push down with my sword arm that Timber was still holding onto, my sword still almost making contact with Timber’s shoulder. I could feel Timber start to tremble against my weight as he continued to tightly hold onto my wrist.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one. I was also starting to sweat a lot more as my heart rate began accelerating. It couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes since we started the duel, but I was already starting to reach my limit. Was I wrong about how different my endurance would have been in an actual fight? Should I have had Flora bless me before the fight? Ah, useless thoughts! I just need to finish this now before I really do hit my limit.

  In my briefest moment of distractedness, Timber suddenly dropped to one knee. His shoulder accordingly also dropped lower, getting further away from my sword. As I was realizing what was going on, I initially thought this was Timber’s desperate attempt to hold as having one knee on the ground would also help him somewhat in holding me back. But, just as I was adjusting my position to lean harder into him to take advantage of the increased height difference, he pushed off with his other leg while also pulling my sword arm. My sword made contact with his shoulder, but it did so at an awkward angle as he simultaneously rocketed forwards to headbutt me in the face.

  The both of us must have been equally dazed by the impact, as we both ended up letting go of each other. I stumbled several steps backwards as Timber fell onto the ground, his cap also falling off. However, we both quickly regained our senses and got back into our ready positions. I looked at his shoulder and saw that my sword cut through the cloth on his shoulder, but because of the angle it cut at and the leather armour he wore, it didn’t even look like I managed to injure him. Panting somewhat heavily, I launched myself at him again. I could not afford to slack off even a little bit, and I executed a furious flurry of attacks that Timber seemed to only barely defend against. However, when Timber finally found his opportunity, he countered, and now I was put on the defensive.

  I defended against the onslaught. In fact, I thought I was defending better than he was earlier. If we kept up this kind of exchange a few more times, I think I would win. However, just as I was thinking that, an electrifying pain surged throughout my body. I barely blocked an attack while suppressing the reflex that would reveal the sudden pain. Timber did not let up, and as I blocked again, the pain shot throughout my body again, even more violently this time. And then on the third, as I blocked again, this time, I couldn’t fully suppress my reaction. I let out a mix of a shout and a scream as I blocked, and then, something even worse happened. I felt the power of five bolts drop down to only four. Timber continued his attack, and although the pain didn’t come up again, my movements were noticeably more sluggish and I was finally pushed back. Timber’s next attack pushed me back even further, and I could barely stay on both my feet as he followed up with another attack. However, this time, the attack was lighter than the other ones and I was able to deflect it. At first, I was thinking this was lucky but if I was still at full strength, that would have led to the perfect opportunity to counter attack.

  I let out several haggard breaths as Timber got back into a proper stance, letting out a few pants of his own. However, he soon stabilized his breathing and from the look in his eyes, I knew he could tell that I was in much worse shape than him now.

  “Braith, you really are something! I haven’t had such an exhilarating exchange in a while.” I desperately tried to catch my breath as he spoke. “However, although we both may have lost ourselves a bit in this heated exchange, this is not a duel to the death.” Right, I almost forgot that as well. All the other intense fights I’ve had recently were not proper duels. “At this rate, I fear that either one of us could get seriously injured. So, how about we end this duel now and call it a draw?”

  “A draw?” What does that even mean?

  “Yes. I do believe we have both seen that we are evenly matched. For both of our sakes, let’s call it a draw. You may pass through here, and although you haven’t won, I can discount the toll. How does half the regular price sound?” I stared at him with confusion. “No, half price does not seem to properly reflect a draw. How about one quarter the regular price then? So, with nineteen silver being the regular price, one quarter would be…four and three quarters…oh, that’s not a very nice number. Okay, we can settle this with just four silver, instead.” There was just too much happening for me to stay completely focused at the moment. My heart rate wasn’t slowing down at all, my body temperature was still near feverish, and sweat continued to trickle down my body.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  However, the state of my body also told me how difficult it would be to keep fighting. I just couldn’t see how I could win like this. If it was back then, I don’t think I would have considered his proposal at all and would have tried every last thing possible to win, but why should I do that now? I am already facing the consequences of my bloated pride. There was no reason to consider this anything like a fight with a mortal enemy. In fact, one could even say Timber was trying to salvage some of my pride. I was clearly at a huge disadvantage right now, but he was still suggesting a draw instead of simply defeating me. I let out a sigh. Then, I stopped using the power of the Thousand Bolts and my body finally started to recover. After a couple seconds, Timber seemed to smile, as if realizing my decision.

  “You’re still trying to rob us?!” Tasha angrily shouted. “Dad, I’ve had enough! Let me fight now!” I looked over at Tasha, slowly reconfiguring my thoughts.

  “Child, please do not tarnish your father’s honour by interfering with the duel.” Tasha looked at Timber with outrage that slowly mellowed out.

  “I wasn’t interfering with the duel. I meant that I will fight through all the rest of you bandits.” Tasha was still clearly angry, but Timber’s words did have somewhat of an impact.

  “No, that would still be interfering. Your father and I agreed to let this duel decide matters. However, I can understand if you still feel this result may not adequately reflect a draw. How about a further discount? You only need to pay three silver.” Tasha just stared back at him. “How about it, Braith? I think I am being very reasonable here.”

  “Shut up! Why should we pay you anything?!” Tasha…yeah, if I were her, I’d be upset, too. I sighed to myself. I briefly considered if it would have been better to let Tasha fight Timber instead. As I was now, with my reduced strength and limited stamina, I think Tasha was probably better in a fight than me right now. I shook my head. No, that’s a stupid thought to be having. I fought and wasn’t able to win. I shouldn’t be thinking of alternatives. I grimaced. It still sucks, though.

  “This was a fair duel between your father and I. We both made a wager, and had I lost, I would have held up my end of the bet. I understand that you must be very upset that your father did not win, but believe me when I say he is indeed very strong. I acknowledge this, and that is why I think we should end this with a draw. Do you really want to risk your father getting severely hurt just to win a few items?” All the lengths Timber was going through right now was actually starting to rub me the wrong way now. Also, what about the merchant goods? I still want to know.

  “Don’t talk like you know exactly how strong my dad is! If he was being completely serious, you wouldn’t be talking so much right now!” Tasha walked right up to Timber. Timber maintained his sunny expression, in contrast to Tasha’s clearly indignant expression.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say I said quite that much. However, even if he was not fighting at his full strength, this was still a fair duel. Perhaps, on a different day he would have won like you said, but this is how it is.”

  “Stop talking as if he lost! You say you want to call it a draw, but you’re the only one who would be winning anything!” Tasha called it exactly how it was. I am being treated like I lost. I was ready to accept the draw that was essentially surrendering to Timber’s terms. But why? Because I thought that was the most rational and mature decision? Yeah, I still think it is, but seeing Tasha this fired up makes this so much harder.

  “Again, I am not at all saying your father lost. If even this amount of a discount isn’t enough, then you can simply turn around. As I said, I give you my word that we won’t pursue you if you decide to do that instead.” No, we definitely cannot do that.

  “What gives you the right to force us to pick one of your choices?” Tasha’s voice was finally close to her usual volume, but I could still hear the rage underneath. “Why should we let bandits boss us around?” I thought I saw Timber’s jovial face crack for just a second.

  “We are bandits, but we are honourable. We have done things as openly and fairly as possible. Do you intend to be dishonourable instead, and go back on your words?” Go back on our words? Wait, what did I really agree to? This was only for that wager. As for whether we would leave the bandits alone afterwards, I never agreed to such a thing. Although, it certainly would hurt my pride to fight them all just because I wasn’t strong enough to beat their leader. But, should I do that anyway?

  “If you were so fair and honourable, you wouldn’t be in our way to begin with! You wouldn’t be bandits, either!” Yes, Tasha is definitely making sense to me here. Timber’s face darkened slightly, before shifting back to a more cherry look.

  “There are many different ways one can live fairly and honourably, even for a bandit. And even for those with more supposedly honourable lifestyles, there are many ways to live dishonourably. I can tell you are a very well-spoken child for your young age, so perhaps you could calm down and explain to me clearly what you think is the fairest outcome, here?” Tasha continued to glare at Timber for a moment, before finally relaxing. Then, she spoke her words calmly.

  “The duel should continue so that my dad can defeat you.” Timber looked honestly surprised for a second. I was surprised as well, but looking back on it, it really shouldn’t have surprised me at all. I tightened the grip on my sword. From what Tasha knew about me, she should have no doubt about my victory. She wasn’t aware of current weakness, but why was I so certain that this fight was hopeless?

  “Well, yes, I can certainly agree to continuing this duel if your father wishes to, but surely you saw how fiercely we fought earlier. As I already said, although you may not care for my wellbeing, surely you wouldn’t want your father to risk serious injury over a bit of silver?”

  “You are still so full of yourself,” Tasha replied.

  “...Don’t you think you may be overestimating your father?” I clenched my fists at that comment. Tasha put her hand on her currently sheathed sword. A few of the other bandits who were simply spectating started to stir, but they still made no attempt to attack or intervene.

  “Child, take your hand off your sword. I am sure your father trained you well, but this is no place-” Timber’s words were suddenly cut short at the sudden realization that Tasha’s sword was already pointed at his throat. Timber’s mouth was left agape as the other bandits quickly reached for their weapons. As they did, though, Tasha swiftly withdrew her sword and sheathed it again.

  “Don’t act like you’re so tough if you can't even react to that.” Tasha then turned around, leaving herself completely open to Timber. Timber did nothing other than signaling for the other bandits to relax as Tasha walked towards me. For many of the bandits, I’m sure they thought Tasha only managed to do what she did because Timber was completely unguarded, but I didn’t think so. As I watched them, despite Timber’s changing expressions, his eyes always remained focused on her. As Tasha neared my side, I stood upright, and pretended that I wasn’t the least bit exhausted.

  “I guess I shouldn’t be taking it so easy, anymore.” I said, bluffing. Tasha smiled at me.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t want anyone to think that my father is some dainty little thing.” I laughed as I recalled those words I spoke to her in Rettiff. I laughed.

  “Yeah, I’d hate that.” I patted Tasha on the head before walking towards Timber. “Do you need a moment before we continue?” I asked with renewed, and arguably, baseless confidence.

  “Are you sure about this, Braith?” It seemed like Timber was genuinely concerned. He had every right to think he would win this fight, so all I would be doing here would just be embarrassing myself. However, maybe I really did have a good chance. Is it possible that Timber was insisting on a draw because he was also bluffing? He couldn't react to Tasha earlier and his last attack on me was also weaker. Maybe he was just pretending he was still in great shape.

  “Of course, feel free to count down from three when you’re ready,” I responded. Well, whatever the case, I just need to win. Timber hesitated before responding.

  “I am ready.”

  “Alright, count down then.”

  “...are you sure you’re ready?” Timber asked again.

  “Yeah, I’m ready, just count.”

  “Three…two…” Timber refrained from saying ‘one’ at the expected time. “Braith, you are really sure you’re ready?”

  “Just say one!”

  “...one” I charged up a bolt through each leg as I charged at Timber. In mid-charge, I forced myself to go back up to a total of five bolts as I aimed to strike at Timber’s sword at full power. The fifth bolt surged through my body alongside a bolt of pain, but even if I end up losing, I was going to make damn sure I give it my all. I slashed at Timber’s sword, not even bothering to predict how he might defend. I was just going to react as things unfolded.

  However, what happened next was completely outside of my expectations. With hardly any real resistance, my sword connected with his and I easily knocked it out of his hand. Then, I immediately pressed the sword against his neck, just barely stopping in time from cutting it. I was dumbfounded, but with the rising heat and pain, I also needed to quickly conclude this.

  “I win,” I declared, slightly unsure. Timber’s eyes remained trained on me for a couple seconds. Then, it looked like his eyes lit up right before he let out a small laugh, causing his neck to dangerously jiggle against my sword.

  “Indeed, it is my loss.”