The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 151

Chapter 18: Fish Bread Bully

“You’re the weakest of us all.”

It’s true that Theodore is strong.

He’s an Expert-level spearman, and as a Fish-man, his physique is also excellent.

But I wasn’t exactly lying.

He really is the weakest.

When you reach a high level, you can roughly sense the other person’s power.

Sometimes I grasp it with the Druid’s intuition, and sometimes the Heavenly Demon tells me directly.

When I gauge it, Theodore was less than half of Campbell’s strength.

Of course, Theodore didn’t seem to acknowledge it at all.

Instead, he frowned as if he had heard insulting words.

“That’s a cliché joke. I’ll let it slide since you’re a guest. Be careful what you say from now on.”

“I understand. From now on, I’ll make up appropriate lies to suit your mood.”

I know from experience.

Scratching someone indirectly like this is much more effective than openly criticizing them.

Theodore was no exception.

He’s reacting like a freshly caught lively fish.

“That’s absurd. There’s a limit to how much you can joke around. Does it make sense that a normal human is stronger than a Fish-man?”

The Fish-man, who was about to get even more angry, turned away, judging that arguing with me was meaningless.

Of course, I have no intention of letting him go quietly.

“Goodbye, Mr. Weakest.”

Was the word ‘weakest’ the trigger?

In the end, Theodore’s lid blew off.

“You’re crossing the line! If you want to die, I’ll have to kill you. Come out with your weapon right now!”

Breathing heavily, Theodore summoned us to the training ground.

It was late at night, so the training ground was deserted.

Both sides faced each other under a giant luminous pearl that brightly illuminated the surroundings.

I couldn’t find any sense of tension among my companions.

Campbell was whistling with his legs crossed, and Zion was playing by drawing on the ground with a twig.

Orneore was saying, ‘Oh! This is the training ground. I wanted to see it sometime,’ and went into exploration mode.

Theodore was the only one who was serious and determined.

He didn’t like this situation itself, so he pointed his spear at me.

“Now that we’ve come this far, there’s no turning back. I’ll make you realize the excellence of the Fish-men. Pay the price for spouting nonsense.”

I spread my index finger at the guy who was suddenly rushing and shook it left and right.

“Sorry, but I’m not your opponent.”

“What?”

“Go beat Campbell over there first and then come.”

Trying to catch the final boss from the beginning.

You have to catch the mid-boss first.

Theodore didn’t have the basics.

The guy scanned Campbell up and down.

Then he nods as if he knows something.

“Indeed. That guy has a similar body to the Fish-men even though he’s human. He must be the strongest among you.”

Let’s let him make a wild guess.

“Did you believe that guy? It’s only similar in size, but there’s a clear difference in fundamental stats between humans and Fish-men. It’s annoying, so come at me all at once.”

“Geez, you talk a lot. Do you fight with your tongue? The vice-captain tells you to fight me. I’ll finish you off quickly, so come on.”

Campbell, holding a bastard sword, declared war on Theodore.

“Good. It’s just a matter of order anyway. I’ll beat you all down and finish it!”

Theodore and Campbell got closer to each other.

Following that, a clash between the two giants.

Clang!!

There was no mana in Campbell’s sword.

The same was true for Theodore’s sword.

Yet, the training ground was swept away by the shockwave.

It was a mystery created with pure muscle strength alone.

Campbell’s tremendous brute force was still overwhelming.

But today, he met his match.

Theodore was also not pushed back by strength.

It was as tense as a horizontal seesaw.

“Hooh? You’re the first guy to face my strength head-on?”

Campbell’s smile deepened.

On the other hand, Theodore was slightly embarrassed.

“A human is on par with me. Amazing.”

“You’ve had a habit of looking down on your opponent since earlier. I’ll have to fix that bad habit first.”

Clang! Clang clang! Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere as the bastard sword and halberd collided.

Since the fight couldn’t be decided by strength, it was a battle of skills from then on.

But even the skills were equal.

It seems like I put the two together well.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

“Euhyaa!”

Theodore fought with all his might, with no trace of his earlier composure.

Campbell also did his best.

In the end, more than a hundred exchanges passed.

The training ground floor was covered with sweat from the two men.

The balance of the game was slowly tilting to one side.

“Cough! Huff!”

Theodore was at a disadvantage.

The reason was clear.

He lacked experience.

Campbell had fought against strong people and crossed the threshold of life and death several times.

Even Zion, who trains every day, is similar to or slightly above Campbell.

On the other hand, Theodore was the strongest in the tribe, so he had only fought against the weak.

As a result, his ability to turn things around in equal or unfavorable situations was somewhat weak.

“Damn it!”

Theodore spat out a curse.

But it was already over.

Clang!

When Campbell raised his bastard sword, the spear flew away.

It was Theodore’s defeat.

The Fish-man warrior, who had a world-collapsing expression, barely regained his mind.

Then he held out his hand to Campbell.

“G, good game. Still, there are outstanding people among the human race. I learned a lot today.”

Then he adds, perhaps because he was upset.

“I acknowledge this man. But not all of you are strong, are you? So don’t be conceited.”

His nose is still very high.

I need to press him down more firmly.

“Zion, come forward.”

The Fish-man droops his spear, perhaps because he is dumbfounded that a woman who only comes up to his waist is coming forward.

“Are you telling me to fight this woman?”

“Why, do you hate it?”

“Of course. This is unilateral violence. Even if I win, there will be no honor left…”

Swaeak!! Ttaak!

Zion’s figure became blurred.

Newt’s footsteps and camouflage combo.

Theodore, who was careless, couldn’t even see the attack properly and was hit on the forehead with a palm.

A dark shadow looms over him as he collapses from the shock.

Zion was looking down at him.

“You’re right. This is unilateral violence. I’m going to use violence on you from now on, so try to block it well.”

“How dare you!!”

The duel between Zion and Theodore was much more tilted towards Zion than the duel with Campbell.

The reason is that assassin styles like Zion are rare in the underwater city.

Most Fish-man warriors enjoy fighting using physical advantages like Campbell.

They couldn’t cope with battles that reversed strength or hid their presence like Zion, so they couldn’t respond.

In addition, Zion has recently taken a step forward after receiving teachings from Sloth in the Empire.

Theodore had no chance of winning in the first place.

“Cough!”

In the end, he knelt down with a black eye.

The spear had been rolling on the floor for a long time.

Orneore slyly put his front paw in front of him.

“Heul heul heul, I’m next. If you’re tired, you can do it next time.”

“No matter how tired I am, an old man who is skinny is easy.”

“Hooh? Really? Try to handle it.”

The price for provoking Seven Stars was very high.

Theodore got hit hard.

Orneore knew how to properly beat his opponent like a sage.

After slapping him with water several times, he controlled the water to forcibly lift the guy who couldn’t come to his senses and hit him again.

It was so vicious that I felt sorry for him.

“Euheok! Huff! Guwaeeek!!”

Theodore vomited out his empty stomach.

The last opponent was me.

He’s been beaten up so far, so if he’s not a carp, he won’t try to fight me.

I thought I had hit him too hard, so I was going to let him go if he honestly admitted that he was the weakest.

But I forgot an important fact.

This is an underwater city, and Theodore is a Fish-man, that is, a carp.

“Just because you have strong subordinates doesn’t mean you’re strong. Don’t hide cowardly behind them and fight bravely!”

There was a famous delusion novel among the novels I read on Earth.

The protagonist always used the method of defeating challengers by putting his stronger subordinates forward.

Therefore, the challenger naturally mistook the protagonist for a strong person.

Because he couldn’t even beat the subordinate that the protagonist had, so he thought he couldn’t beat the protagonist who was stronger than him.

But that’s just a delusion novel.

In reality, the leader is stronger than the subordinate.

Theodore had to learn that fact while being hit.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Do you still think you’re the strongest?”

“Eueo···”

I used Druid skills without holding back.

I tied him up with Bind and made him a breathing punching bag.

I avoided clumsy resistance with Heavenly Demonic Guidance.

I used the Heavenly Demon Sword as a whip and deliberately chose only painful places to whip.

“From now on, repeat three times. I am the weakest carp. Repeat!!”

“Eueoeo···”

“That won’t work.”

Thud! Thud!

Hitting, hitting, and hitting again.

How much did I hit him?

The education was completed.

“I, Theodore, am the weakest.”

“Informal speech?”

“I am the weakest…”

“Where did the carp go?”

“Please spare me that much.”

“Okay. Then I’ll change it to fish bread. Because that’s cuter.”

In the end, Theodore found freedom only after he was sure that he was the weakest.

* * *

Northern District of the Underwater City.

Iron Heart Tribe.

Blake is the son of the Iron Heart tribe leader.

Recently, he has been very uncomfortable.

This is because he was rejected after proposing to Jane, the daughter of the Swift Wind tribe leader next door.

“How dare that insignificant woman reject me?”

The Swift Wind tribe and the Iron Wind tribe have five times the population.

If the central government hadn’t controlled the north, they would have been wiped out long ago.

That inferior tribe woman scratched his pride because she was a little pretty and he gave her some attention.

So, while he was looking for an opportunity to take revenge, a good timing came.

The Swift Wind tribe had not won the martial arts competition for 19 years.

If they fail to win for 20 years, the tribe will be divided into several groups according to the Mermaid King’s order and belong to nearby tribes.

Swift Wind tribe members will also come to the Iron Heart tribe, and Blake was planning to bring Jane, of course.

‘I can’t just bring her.’

He was going to teach her exactly.

What the price of rejecting him was.

Blake was planning to lock the Swift Wind immigrants in the farm as soon as they arrived here.

Then slowly eat them one by one.

What kind of pleasant screams will Jane let out as she watches her tribe members being cooked in front of her?

A cruel smile hung on his lips as he imagined this.

Of course, there are difficulties.

Recently, a great genius was born in the Swift Wind tribe.

Theodore, who was a young boy, recently gained enlightenment and grew into a strong warrior.

According to informants, it seems difficult for even the Iron Heart’s masters to last more than twenty moves with him.

But it wasn’t a big problem.

The Iron Heart tribe has an important element that the Swift Wind tribe does not have.

That is capital, power, and connections.

Blake made full use of his advantages.

“Blake, a guest has arrived.”

“Bring him in.”

Finally, what was coming came.

There were a total of three Fish-men who entered the tent.

They were the famous ‘Butcher Brothers’ in Poseidon City.

The first one with a horn on his forehead.

The second one with a lump on his chin.

Even the third one with one eye.

The Butcher Brothers.

They were notorious gangsters in Poseidon City.

As the name Butcher suggests, they had a habit of mercilessly slicing and eating their enemies.

The fact that the Butcher brothers have been alive despite committing such atrocities in Poseidon City, where cannibalism is prohibited, proved their strength.

Each one had an unusual aura.

Blake automatically got up and bowed his head.

“Are you Blake?”

The one-horned man grabbed Blake’s hair and slammed him into the table.

The wooden table could not withstand the impact and was split in half.

“You brat, how dare you order anyone around?”

“I’m sorry…”

“We just came because your tribe said they would give us delicacies that are hard to eat in the capital.”

“Of course! I keep that in mind.”

“If you know that well, bring some alcohol and Fish-man meat right now. Human meat would be even better.”

“Yes!”

Blake, frightened, disappeared.

The Butcher Brothers stared blankly at his retreating figure.

“A martial arts competition held in a rural village, it’s going to be terribly boring. It’s not fun to catch small fries.”

“Was it Theodore? It seems like there’s a pretty big guy.”

“He’s just a frog in a well. There are plenty of guys like that in Poseidon.”

“Just be patient, youngest. You’ll soon be able to see as much blood as you want.”

Soon, a feast was set before them.

It was all made with Fish-men.

While tearing off the leg meat, they bet on who would kill their opponent more overwhelmingly and brutally in the martial arts competition.

None of the three brothers bet on their own defeat.