They all call me Great Master-Chapter 358 - 355: Who Said Standing While Sleeping Isn’t Heroic!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The bell tower in Elta Square began to ring, totaling twenty-seven times—each celebration in South County begins with twenty-seven bell tolls to commemorate the original Twenty-Seven Braves.

And because the eras of the Braves differed, the twenty-seven bell tolls were not in succession but divided into three sets.

The first set of three tolls represented the Hero of the Sword, Hero of the Shield, and Hero of the Staff from the Golden Age who acquired a piece of land for humanity to thrive on from dragons, elves, orcs, dwarves, and other races.

The second set of nineteen tolls represented the nineteen heroes who emerged to fight for humanity during the Imperial Age and the Fog War.

The third set of five tolls was for the five heroes of the ’disappeared century’ of the Holy Empire.

As for the first twenty-two heroes, the people of today hold no doubts about their existence.

But as for the five heroes of the Holy Era, their existence was questioned due to the lack of records.

However, as an ancient custom, it was still preserved.

Amidst the echoing bell tolls, the Swordsmanship Chief of the Earl of South Los stood on the high platform, reciting the count’s blessing—

"When the storm comes, please hold fast to the rope in your hands!

When the waves rise high, please hold tight to the oar in your hands!

I wish to give you courage and promise…"

Because of the Earl of South Los’s habit of staying out of the public eye, he did not appear in this ’Swordsmanship Competition’ as usual.

Indeed, not only at the ’Swordsmanship Competition,’ but also at the four fixed festivals of South County—’Peace Festival’ and ’Storm Calming Day’—the Lord Count rarely made an appearance.

The last time he appeared was at the ’Storm Calming Day’ three years ago.

However, even though the Lord Count did not appear, the blessing speech was still lengthy, enough to make Arthur sleepy.

For today’s ’Swordsmanship Competition,’ Arthur did not stay up all night reading; he went to bed early.

And then...

He didn’t fall asleep.

It’s strange how people are unable to sleep the night before they have important things to do, yet when the time comes to handle these tasks, sleepiness attacks.

Just like Arthur at this moment.

He certainly had slept the necessary ’six hours.’

But right now, his eyelids felt as heavy as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

Especially with the Swordsmanship Chief’s recitation of the blessing speech ringing in his ears, it was almost as if it were a lullaby.

Arthur knew what the next part of the blessing speech would be without even listening.

It was nothing more than revisiting history, looking forward to the future, and extolling the South Los Family...

It was always the same.

There was no difference.

No!

There was a difference. Read exclusive chapters at novelbuddy

When he stood and listened before, Arthur couldn’t sleep.

Now, standing and listening, he could fall asleep, supported by the strong balance provided by the enhancement of his Physique and the secret technique ’Cat and Snake.’

Moreover, his slight snoring was controlled so well that it seemed like prolonged breathing.

Unless someone stared directly at Arthur, they would never notice he was asleep.

And since Arthur was at a front row position, it was virtually impossible for him to be discovered.

The only one who might realize Arthur was asleep, the Swordsmanship Chief Julie reciting the blessing, was ’intently’ reading—her 6,000-word speech was personally written by the Lord Count, and she had to recite it without missing a word; she was so focused that she didn’t notice Arthur dozed off.

About half an hour later, the recitation finally neared its end—

"The ’Swordsmanship Competition’ begins now!"

When she reached the word "begins," the Swordsmanship Chief let out a sigh of relief.

She had finally ’read’ it all.

And that change in mood immediately altered her tone of voice.

Arthur was instantly awakened and instinctively began applauding.

Clap, clap, clap!

The crisp sound of clapping was followed by applause all around the next moment.

On the other side, Little Lisop snorted disdainfully to himself.

’Show-off! Just wait until I bring you down!’ he thought.

Arthur clearly felt this malice.

But it didn’t matter; he was eagerly waiting.

Holding the A-01 card, Arthur walked directly to the ring representing District A—the ’Swordsmanship Competition’ had rings set up in eight districts, A to H.

Arthur’s card was for District A1.

’Whale Slaying Sword’ Kangsion was in B1.

’Storm Sword’ Deljo was in C1.

And Little Lisop was in District D.

The three sons of the Bern Family were in District E.

As for ’Lord Ernest,’ ’Lord Dibwa,’ and ’Lord Bass,’ three young nobles from noble houses, they were in districts F, G, and H, respectively.

The exceptions were Little Lisop and the three sons of the Bern Family.

Because their ’servants’ had suffered an accident, they had to compete themselves.

What about the draw results?

Of course, it was fair and just!

A public drawing under the watchful eyes of everyone—how could they cheat using heated wooden balls?

Impossible!

"Absolutely impossible!"

According to the order, Arthur was the first to go on stage.

As contestant number one, he needed to fight at least nine matches before he could enter the quarterfinals, which was extremely disadvantageous for anyone, but Arthur was the exception.

The opponent was a student from the ’Joel Jock Swordsmanship Club.’

Upon seeing Arthur, the opponent’s face turned pale.

This student remembered well how Arthur had effortlessly defeated his own coach, whom he couldn’t last three moves against.

Right then and there, the student was about to concede defeat.

But at that moment—

"Draw your sword and attack like you do in your regular training!"

Arthur spoke up.

The student was stunned.

So were the spectators all around.

What was going on?

Arthur, ignoring the gazes of those around him, faced the opposing student with a gentle smile and nodded encouragingly.

"Alright!"

The encouraged student nodded vigorously and then drew his sword to attack.

He had a certain foundation, but that was about it.

Approximately the level of ’Basic Swordsmanship Lv1.’

Arthur watched the opponent’s blade and footwork, silently evaluating.

After deftly sidestepping the thrust, Arthur said aloud.

"Move your wrist, don’t brute force it, you’re using a sword, not swinging a hammer."

"Oh, got it!"

The student nodded repeatedly and attacked again.

By that time, the crowd had realized that Arthur was giving a lesson.

"Such a benevolent lord!"

"Indeed!"

"This lord’s character is even better than his swordsmanship!"

"Correct!"

...

The area was filled with endless words of admiration.

And this was exactly what Arthur wanted.

When it came to harvesting a heap of reputation in the ’Swordsmanship Competition,’ flashy fights were one approach, but displaying virtue was even better.

Because people liked the latter.

It also further irritated Little Lisop.

It definitely wasn’t because he was about to take over ’Joel Jock Swordsmanship Club,’ and in order to better run the club and attract more people, he had to openly select talented individuals.

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Definitely not!

As for why ’Joel Jock Swordsmanship Club’ would belong to Arthur?

You have to pay the price when you make a mistake, right?

Given the huge mistake Todd Gili made, it was only right and reasonable to compensate Arthur with the ’Joel Jock Swordsmanship Club,’ wasn’t it?

Smack!

After another exchange, the sword in the young student’s hands was knocked away by Arthur’s swift hand.

This time, the young student didn’t attack again.

Instead, he bowed respectfully, as an apprentice would.

"Thank you for your teachings!"

He spoke with genuine gratitude because even just a few attacks had made the student feel his swordsmanship had greatly improved.

’If I could receive guidance from Lord Kledos regularly, my swordsmanship would surely advance rapidly.’

With this regretful sentiment, the student picked up his longsword, bowed again to Arthur, and then finally leaped off the stage.

The second contestant followed.

Just like the first, it was a teaching match.

Then came the third, the fourth...

Gradually, the people in the square were completely drawn to the A Block stage.

Compared to the other seven stages of fierce battles, the A Block stage was just too unusual. If it had been a mix of fighting and teaching, the former would surely be more attractive, but with seven stages of combat and only one teaching match, the latter unconsciously drew attention.

Because it was different.

Especially after ’Whale Slaying Sword’ and ’Storm Sword’ effortlessly ’cleared’ their matches, Arthur’s stage drew even more attention.

And every time an opponent finished an attack and Arthur began to comment on their swordsmanship, there was always a cheer from the crowd.

’What a populist clown!

If you want the adoration of these commoners, then you must endure their criticism—who told you not to realize that these fools are only fit to be deceived!’

Little Lisop, the last to appear in the D Block, was constantly monitoring Arthur.

Watching more and more people gather around Arthur, the son of the lord knew his chance had arrived.

Eyeing the two fighters still battling in the D Block and the three people queueing in front of him, the son of the lord walked toward the A Block with a noble’s distinctive drawn-out intonation, shouting just before Arthur’s next contestant could go on stage—

"Wait!"