I became a Male Lead in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Clang-

The sound of two metals colliding heavily reverberated through the training ground.

Owen furrowed his brows slightly at the piercing sound of metal in his ears. Although he had been hearing it for a while, the sound of blades clashing was far from pleasant.

Perhaps it was because Owen's hearing was exceptionally keen. His body reacted sensitively to sounds due to his ability to hear even the slightest noise.

To evade the unpleasant sound, Owen twisted his sword to deflect the opponent's blade.

Screech-

The sharp scratching sound tormented him.

'...I'd rather drop the sword.'

Not wanting to hear that sound anymore, Owen stepped back and swiftly brought down his sword on the opponent knight's blade.

"Uh!"

Whether due to the difference in strength or a momentary lapse in focus, the knight dropped the sword he was holding.

"I have lost."

With a face that seemed to say losing was only natural, the knight raised his hand in surrender.

Nodding his head, Owen lowered his sword.

"Good work."

He had come to the training ground for the inspection and sparring of the knights, as requested by the commander.

'Not bad as I thought!'

Since he had been practicing alone, he wasn't sure of his skill level.

But using Owen's body, agility and strength were naturally superior. Even practicing alone, he could feel that.

'Performing swordsmanship or wielding a spear is just a matter of focus.'

It was truly strange, but raising the sword or spear was not difficult.

Just imagining Owen's actions made everything fall into place.

Thinking of the heroes in other fantasy novels he had read, Owen recalled they either struggled to learn or gave up.

'...But I could do everything as long as I was conscious of it.'

In my case, it was completely different from them.

Noble etiquette, usual behavior, or way of speaking, all were effortlessly resolved by Owen's body.

His body moved naturally.

It felt completely natural and familiar.

The same applied to swordsmanship and other combat-related skills.

Riding, swordsmanship, handling spears or other weapons.

Even though I had never tried them before.

'Today was a bit of an exception.'

When practicing alone, the opponent was a scarecrow or a target, so it didn't matter much. There was no problem if the opponent got hurt, and inanimate objects couldn't harm him.

But today's training was different.

Today, his opponents were all living people.

He couldn't swing his sword without thinking.

Therefore, he wielded the sword consciously for the first time.

Thanks to that, there were many mistakes in the first few attempts that didn't seem like 'Owen,' but Owen quickly filled those gaps.

Even if he couldn't match 'Owen, he had Owen's body and swordsmanship.

With the deceptive talent innate in Owen, if he only instilled the will to act on his thoughts, everything came to fruition.

The sword flying at a fast speed seemed slow, and the speed of dodging was excessively fast.

Thanks to that, Owen was able to finish training with the knights without much suspicion.

"Your Grace."

When Owen finished training with the knights and was lost in thought.

The knight commander, Jade, who had been observing from behind, approached him.

As Owen was facing a exceptional swordsman, he replied with a slight tension, "Sir Jade."

"I apologize for troubling you. The hunting competition is approaching, so I asked for this training to discipline these fellows."

Jade had no doubts, to the point that Owen's tension was almost comical.

Perhaps it was because Jade was the first to train with Owen. He didn't seem to even consider doubting Owen's skill against the aura and swordsmanship he displayed against him.

"It goes without saying that it was necessary. More importantly, how are the preparations for the hunting competition?"

Thinking he had successfully overcome Jade's suspicions, Owen turned the conversation to the preparations for the hunting competition.

To which Jade, bowing his head, replied, "The horses, carriages, weapons, everything is prepared. The participants for the hunting competition and those who will stay at the mansion have been selected. I will organize the related documents and present them by the end of today."

"Good, well done."

Owen nodded at Jade's report.

Since Jade had been in charge of matters related to the hunting competition throughout his tenure as the knight's commander, there was no need to worry about that.

However...

The hunting competition will be real.

Today was the first time Owen had faced 'real' people with swords in hand.

But, hunting competition was a place where he had to face creatures capable of killing him.

It was worrisome whether he would be able to perform well.

Of course, he wouldn't die.

Even if he suffered a fatal blow, a signal could be sent through the communication device, and personnel would be deployed to save him.

But whether he could perform as effectively as the original Owen was still unknown.

'...Can I imitate him and do well?'

Honestly, he wasn't sure.

Given the variety in the sizes of creatures, he might be able to handle small ones.

Maybe even medium-sized creatures.

But large ones...

He wasn't confident.

'I need more practice.'

Amidst the growing complexity in his mind and concerns, Owen took a short breath and came to a conclusion.

There were things he had to do even if it seemed impossible.

The hunting competition was one of those things.

It was inevitable, and at the same time, he had to excel at it.

So, it seemed like he would have to focus solely on swordsmanship until just before the hunting competition.