The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 900: Chapter 19 Occupational Disease_2

The stern faces and sharp looks of these two French gentlemen quickly attracted a crowd of pedestrians passing by the café.

The whispers and low discussions among the crowd surged like a tide, but Great Dumas and Vini seemed to be in a world of silence, fully concentrated on this duel concerning honor and dignity.

Victor, seeing this, suddenly remembered Arthur’s past feat of defeating the Paris Sword Saint, Bertrand. He took a puff of his cigarette and asked, ”How do you think those two guys measure up?”

Arthur looked at Vini, who was trying hard to appear cool in his outfit, and casually commented, ”To borrow a phrase you French often say—clothes do not make the monk, nor does a hat make a philosopher. Similarly, beautiful sword flourishes cannot make a fighter unless he bribes his opponent.”

Victor thought Arthur was mocking Vini and laughed heartily, ”What do you think of Mr. Zhongma’s swordsmanship?”

Arthur simply and clearly commented, ”Alexander is a sharpshooter and a good swordsman.”

”Have you fought him?”

”Hmm...” Arthur held up four fingers towards Victor.

Victor asked confused, ”What does that mean?”

”He can seriously last four rounds with me.”

Victor glanced at the calm Arthur, then the two great playwrights in the café, and said with a relaxed smile, ”That’s quite impressive.”

Perhaps influenced by Arthur, Great Dumas put his right foot forward, extended his sword hand and lowered it before his right knee, with the sword’s tip pointing upward at his opponent’s face, initiating with Arthur’s customary Iron Gate stance.

The advantage of this stance is that keeping the sword forward not only defends against slashes and thrusts, like having a big gate before you, but also allows the swordsman to change stances flexibly and use various tactics to harass the opponent.

However, compared to Great Dumas’s straight Iron Gate stance, Arthur obviously has more starting options, as a seasoned swordsman usually adapts to different weapons, technical styles, and opponents’ dominant hands.

Meaning, Arthur not only often uses the straight Iron Gate stance but also frequently shifts stances, moving the sword to the left and right to create a stance with Iron Gate sally on both sides.

Once Arthur gains the advantage and closes in, he would soon abandon large slashing and thrusting motions and switch to fast grappling, wrestling, and throwing techniques.

Arthur used this move to dominate among the East District thugs, and today, Great Dumas evidently intends to emulate Arthur’s ’rogue sword style’, starting with the Iron Gate stance to solidify defense, then seizing the moment to close the duel distance, and later find an opportunity to drag Vini to the ground.

But things evidently did not develop as Great Dumas imagined.

A gust of wind blew through, shaking the café’s wind chime, and sunlight through the café’s window dazzled Great Dumas’s face, blinding him with its brilliance.

In the blink of an eye, the intensely focused Vini took an upward step and swung his sword with a slash.

Just as Arthur said, although this gentleman practiced swordsmanship, he spent most of his energy practicing flashy sword flourishes to show off.

The movement of his right and left foot was out of sync, the right foot already stepped forward while the left foot lagged behind, clearly a thrusting stride used misguidedly for slashing.

Sure enough, his sword had not yet struck Great Dumas when his head almost hit the tip of the big man’s sword.

Great Dumas was startled by Vini’s motion, unwilling to harm his friend, hastily withdrew his sword, and though Vini’s slash missed even touching Great Dumas’s white scarf.

Though Vini’s swordsmanship wasn’t high, his reckless fighting style startled Great Dumas.

Wanting to close in on Vini, but not leaving a chance for him, the sunlight-lit sword tip danced in the air like a butterfly that had taken the wrong medicine. Onlookers would definitely perceive Vini not as a playwright and poet but rather mistake him for a mathematician.

Otherwise, why would he wield his fancy sword to trace the number 8 in the air?

Great Dumas, pushed by Vini’s chaotic sword style, had no choice but to fight while retreating, from one end of the café to the other, and judging by his retreat, he might soon end up in the kitchen for cooking.

Vini, panting while attacking, cursed, ”Alexander, draw your sword? Why don’t you draw your sword? Do you think not drawing your sword means I’ll forgive you? Today’s duel stage, fatedly only one of us can be the winner, just like at Dovar’s place!”

Great Dumas, in despair, lamented, ”Vini, why bother yourself? Dovar already told me she and I were just a brief affair. She only kissed me once, and when she was leaving London for Paris, do you know what she said to me?”

Hearing this, Vini slowed his attack, ”What did she say?”

Great Dumas replied, ”I thanked her for coming such a long way to London to support me at the scene, and she said, ’Ah! You’re too kind, my big darling! It’s been a while since I last saw you.’”

”Ah!!!!!!!!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Vini swung several more strikes, but Great Dumas blocked them all.

”Vini, calm down, let me finish. I then told her, ’You can’t see me, it’s beyond help. For the past year or two, I’ve been busy being the father of revolution or the dad of children. Could I ask for one more kiss from you before our parting?’”