Luke challenged Shirou to a duel.
This happened at the party was surely a surprise to all the guests and even the Boreas family.
After all, duels are very rare among nobles, only happening in extreme situations.
What surprised everyone even more was that Shirou not only didn't accept the duel but directly refused it.
Although there are no rules saying a duel must be accepted, refusing so directly undoubtedly gives others a bad impression.
At least, besides those noble ladies who were very interested in Shirou, most nobles and wealthy merchants now looked at Shirou coldly, feeling that this young man lacked ambition.
And if others felt that way, Luke, who started the duel, was even more confused, staring at Shirou with wide eyes: "What did you say? You refuse my duel?"
"Yes, I have no interest in dueling people."
Shirou nodded silently. His principles never change.
For him, strength is used to protect himself and his family, not to show off his power and bully the weak.
Although Luke looked taller than him, Shirou could feel that his strength was at most an Intermediate Rank Swordsman, even a very ordinary one.
At least if Eris came, also an Intermediate Rank Swordsman, she would instantly kill him.
Shirou had no interest in fighting such a weak opponent, nor would he draw his sword for no reason just to show off his strength.
That was something Shirou would never do.
However, all of this was just Shirou's own thoughts.
To outsiders, Shirou refused Luke's duel simply because he was afraid of fighting Luke and gave in due to excessive fear.
Although this wasn't unforgivable, people always choose what's best for themselves, but in such a situation, not even having the courage to duel, most of the nobles at the party were completely disappointed in Shirou.
On the other hand, Princess Ariel's expression towards Shirou remained unchanged. Although she was equally surprised that Shirou refused to duel Luke, she didn't look down on Shirou because of it. Instead, she felt that this young man was even more unfathomable.
After all, how could ordinary people possibly resist acting impulsively in public?
Even if they lacked strength, they would surely accept the duel with Luke.
But Shirou didn't act so recklessly, which showed that his character far exceeded that of people his age, making Princess Ariel more and more interested in Shirou.
"You..."
Luke was completely disappointed in Shirou.
He glared at Shirou, wanting to lash out, but he couldn't directly attack Shirou in public.
Plus Ariel's support, Luke could only leave helplessly. The knot in his heart towards Shirou not only didn't lessen but accumulated even more.
"Who is that guy? What's with all the messing around? Dueling and stuff..."
Eris stood next to Shirou, looking at Luke with disdain.
As Shirou's student, and with Ghislaine as a bodyguard, she was used to battles between strong people. So although her own swordsmanship was only at the Intermediate Rank Swordsman level, her vision far surpassed that.
In Eris's eyes, Luke's actions were like a clown jumping around.
Like an ant challenging an elephant.
Shirou not accepting the duel was the best result for him.
Otherwise, Luke would probably experience the darkest day of his life.
Of course, only Swordsman of Eris's level could see this. Ordinary people couldn't see how huge the difference was between Shirou and Luke.
Even Princess Ariel could only vaguely sense Shirou's uniqueness and didn't truly realize the difference in strength between Shirou and Luke.
After all, Luke became an Intermediate level Swordsman at such a young age, so he was considered a small genius.
He was probably often praised in the noble circles of the royal capital, being considered the most talented young swordsman among the nobles.
However, this so-called best swordsmanship talent had too many conditions attached to it.
Not to mention Shirou, even Isolte from the Water God Style dojo could easily crush Luke.
It's just that Isolte wasn't a noble.
…
After the duel incident ended, Eris's birthday party had to continue after all.
Because Shirou had refused Luke's duel earlier, most of the nobles and wealthy merchants there had already seen him as an incapable and timid noble youth.
So after the party officially started, almost no one was willing to approach him.
On the other hand, Eris was constantly being approached by people inviting her to dance.
As the host, and the person whose birthday it was, Eris undoubtedly had to accept the guests' invitations and go on stage to dance.
But Eris had complete negative confidence in her dancing skills. She knew that if she actually went up to dance, she would definitely make a fool of herself.
In a dilemma, Eris almost instinctively looked at Shirou, with a "help me, Shirou" look in her eyes.
Regarding Eris's attitude, Shirou hesitated for a moment.
Because he actually saw Miyu's shadow on her face for a moment.
Shirou shook his head immediately, letting his view of Eris return to normal, not using her as a substitute for Miyu, and said softly, "If you don't have the courage, how about dancing one dance with me first?"
"Dancing with you, Shirou?"
Eris was stunned.
She didn't remember Shirou learning to dance, let alone showing any talent in that area.
But Shirou was quite calm. Although he had never learned anything about ballroom dancing in his life, he knew that the essence of dancing was just steps and movements.
Taking the correct steps in the correct order, making the corresponding actions.
In essence, it was almost no different from swordsmanship.
Plus, Shirou usually taught Eris swordsmanship, so guiding Eris in dance practice on the spot wasn't anything too difficult.
"What, you don't want to?"
Under Shirou's invitation, Eris hesitated for a moment, then steeled her heart and said loudly, "Okay, okay, I'll dance with you!"
Eris was clearly planning to give up.
She knew she couldn't dance well anyway, so instead of making a fool of herself dancing with strangers, she might as well drag Shirou down with her.
So the two of them went to the very center of the party venue.
Seeing Shirou and Eris appear together, everyone around couldn't help but look over. Most people didn't react much when they saw Eris, but when they saw Shirou, they immediately showed negative emotions.
Only Princess Ariel still seemed interested in Shirou, without much change.
However, Luke, who was next to Princess Ariel, was now exploding with resentment towards Shirou.
After all, Shirou's current actions were not only conflicting with him over the family succession but also showing him unpleasant behavior. He was even now cutting in on Eris, whom he had set his sights on. He could be said to be an enemy among enemies.
He now only hoped that Shirou wouldn't dance well and would make a fool of himself, so that he could comfort Eris in Shirou's place and even dance with her.
Amid the complex emotions of Luke and the crowd, Shirou calmly stood in front of Eris and reached out his hand.
Seeing this, Eris took a deep breath and finally decided to take Shirou's hand.
As the music began to play, the people around who were dancing had already started moving with their partners.
Eris, on the other hand, was stiff as a board, as if her joints were locked.
Seeing Eris's expression, Shirou sighed. He realized that before dancing, he needed to solve the problem with Eris's mindset first.
So he looked at Eris and said slowly, "Don't mind other people's opinions, Eris. If you really can't do it, just think of the people around you as not being an audience, but as enemies. What we need to do now is use our weapons to destroy them all!"
"Enemies? Destroy?"
Hearing Shirou's suggestive words, Eris's expression changed slightly.
For Eris, who had the combat instincts of a wild animal, as soon as she heard the words "destroy the enemy," she would almost instantly enter a fierce state and completely forget the situation she was in, focusing all her attention on her body's movements.
Seizing this opportunity, Shirou moved at once.
Although he had never danced in his life, nor had he seen many dances, because of his copying skills, Shirou was used to imitating other people's movements, making corresponding poses.
He now only needed to watch the movements of the people dancing around him and follow the beat a little, and he could naturally make the corresponding actions.
Under Shirou's guidance, Eris quickly entered the rhythm of the dance.
Originally, Eris was a master of the Sword God Style, with fast and swift movements. Dancing should have come easily to her.
But Eris had always been unnecessarily nervous because she saw dancing as something that conflicted with her and instinctively resisted it.
However, Shirou guided Eris using swordsmanship, quickly making her realize that dancing was just about the same as swordsmanship.
So the girl quickly became flexible.
Although there were some small stumbles along the way, and Shirou was stepped on several times by Eris, when the music ended, Shirou and Eris still successfully completed the dance together.
And their movements as Swordsman far surpassed those of ordinary nobles, quickly making everyone around them unable to help but applaud enthusiastically.
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