58 – Old Acquaintance #3
“Please?”
I furrowed my brow slightly.
I didn’t want to get involved in useless things, so I came here thinking it would be neat, but when this happens, the story changes.
“Yes, please. We are also having a hard time these days.”
“You?”
Considering her skill, which I once saw with my own eyes, it was hard to believe that the words of the former ace of imperial intelligence and current queen of the underworld came out of her mouth.
When I showed an unfavorable response, Sylvia continued her explanation in an impatient voice.
“Recently, some crazy organization has been messing around, so it’s not even a total mess going under the hood. Is that something you know too?”
“Ah….”
Are you talking about the future of the empire?
Coming to think of it, the coachman said that at that time he kidnapped people of different races or peoples and sold them on the black market.
The black market I was talking about back then, of course, must be referring to the market of the underworld.
Sylvia said, shuddering at her lightly, as if she recalled the situation at the time.
“Do you know how many shops have been shut down because the intelligence department agents and the Royal Guard stormed the underworld a few days ago? The customers are also afraid to come down here. We are also doing business at a loss.”
Somehow, compared to the reputation of the underworld, the streets seemed quiet. Apparently, Elizabeth did a good job.
Suddenly, a question popped into my mind.
“There must be a different race sold here.”
“Well, there was.”
“How did it go?”
“What are you asking for obvious things?”
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Sylvia had the face of an innocent country girl and a sly and wicked smile.
“Of course I kept them well and handed them over to the imperial family.”
“… ….”
It was a good deed that didn’t go well with his facial expression.
Even with that kind of expression on the face of an innocent country girl, the sense of distance was felt even more severely. How long are you planning on wearing that disguise?
If you think about it, Sylvia has always been like that.
She looks like a cold assassin without blood or tears who tasted the dark side of society and did all sorts of dirty things with her own hands, but she actually kept a certain line and had a secretly tender inner side.
Perhaps the reason is that Sylvia once grew up in this brothel. That’s why the girls down her street call her her sister and follow her.
Of course, pity wasn’t the only reason why she didn’t touch the different races. Since it’s Sylvia, not anyone else, she must have been aware that the future of the empire was a bomb that would explode if touched by a different species.
Nevertheless, I felt my heart slowly loosening up, and after thinking about it for a while, I spoke slowly.
“… Tell me what your request is.”
“Really? Really? Don’t you have anything to say?”
“For now, I will just listen.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not such a difficult request.”
Sylvia raised her body from her bed and walked towards me with a coy smile.
“Honey, is her skill still the same?”
***
I decided to go get information on Ella’s whereabouts in a week.
She is an information dealer, so information doesn’t come out right away when you ask, but they themselves need time to do their own research and put together information.
In the end, she decided to accept Sylvia’s request after a week or not.
In principle, you should receive an advance payment and the balance after the work is done, but since we’re together, you said you wouldn’t take anything like an advance payment.
Speaking of the conclusion, Sylvia was planning to restore the shrinking commercial district of the underworld.
For the time being, you will have to act cautiously under the watchful eye of the imperial family, but in a few weeks, the imperial family will lose interest, and at that time, you will be preparing an event to attract guests to the underworld.
At that time, the content of the request was to lend a hand for a while.
I finally accepted it on the condition that if the prepared information is insufficient after a week or if I change my mind, I can always refuse.
I’d be glad if today’s work was worth it, but I couldn’t hide that a corner of my heart was on edge all the way back to the academy on the tram.
A week later, when she got Ella’s information.
If my worst imagination turns into reality.
“… ….”
There is no point in thinking about a problem that cannot be solved even if you think about it for a long time.
Burying all the random thoughts in her head, she rode the campus tram back to the Opal Black dormitory.
Since I went to the dark side, it was already past evening. Starting today, she planned to eat with Saladin, but it seemed that the schedule would have to be postponed until tomorrow.
But when she returned to the dormitory.
“We can’t put it off any longer! Instructor Ion!”
Gwynn was waiting for me at the entrance with a confident look.
For how long had she been doing this, she was standing at the entrance of the dormitory holding her training sword, already changed into active clothes.
I laughed lightly at the sight of him blocking the door by himself.
“If anyone sees you, you’ll think you’re a disciple of the Great Warrior, not the Sword Master.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. Go to the gymnasium.”
“Oh, yes! All right!”
Gwynn’s face lit up at my words and she ran excitedly towards her gymnasium.
Other students screamed and struggled every time they trained, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy practicing her sword.
I thought that perhaps Gwynn’s real talent might be the way she enjoys it rather than her swordsmanship.
I only wielded a spear on the battlefield and tried desperately to become stronger, but I had never felt pure pleasure in becoming stronger.
I took out a training sword from the gymnasium and faced Gwynn.
It wasn’t that I was particularly prepared or lost my energy, but just the fact that I was holding the sword filled Gwynn’s eyes with tension.
“Let’s start from scratch.”
“Yes! I look forward to!”
The essence of this practice was to help Gwynn find her very own stone sword.
However, it was unreasonable for me to teach Gwynn about swordsmanship, as I was neither a stone sword practitioner nor a sword master.
That’s why I didn’t actually teach Gwynn anything.
All I did was attack Gwynn with the stone sword.
Boom!!
“Aww!”
The moment Gwynn and my sword collided, I felt the impact as if huge rocks were splitting into each other. Then Gwynn fell to the floor of the gymnasium.
Gwynn did not let go of the sword even as he rolled on the floor. She quickly shook off the shock that had spread through her body, got up immediately, and challenged me again. Every time that happened, I defeated Gwynn again and again with the rock sword.
That’s right. In this practice, I attacked Gwynn with the Rock Sword, and Gwynn gained enlightenment in the process. It was a simple, ignorant method, but Gwynn seemed to feel a sense of accomplishment with just that.
Gwynn swung her sword so that she could no longer move, sweat all over her body, and then she fell to the floor of the gymnasium and let go of her sword.
“Mandible, mandible….”
In contrast to Gwynn’s gasping for breath, my breathing wasn’t disturbed at all.
In place of Gwynn, who couldn’t move, I inserted two training swords into the sword belt. And calmly spoke to Gwynn.
“Are you okay?”
Gwynn took a deep breath, then slowly opened his mouth when his breathing stabilized.
“… Are you okay? It couldn’t get any better than this.”
She said, slightly raising her upper body.
“Did you use the stance of the millennium giant rock that was shown at the beginning? I never thought you would use the posture of enduring all attacks on the spot as a way to strike down with the power of your whole body… Same with other attacks. I never thought I could use a stone sword like that….”
I couldn’t find an appropriate answer after listening to Gwynn’s explanation. I just knew that it was called the attitude of a thousand-year-old giant rock.
I just copied it because I thought it would be okay to apply it like this after seeing the swordsman repel it.
But if you think Gwynn was helpful in that way, that’s good enough.
“Just take note. After all, this sword doesn’t suit you either.”
“… I know.”
Gwynn nodded her head as her eyes grew serious, and she let out her short sigh abruptly.
“I don’t know what Master will say when he sees this.”
“Are you worried about that?”
“If it wasn’t, it would be a lie… Because I have already made my choice.”
Gwynn’s gaze blurred as if he was looking somewhere far away.
“I think that just blocking the sword of the rock and counterattacking is not everything. If I continue to learn the sword with the instructor… I think I can see the essence of the rock sword that my father was trying to teach me.”
I nodded slightly.
“Then you can increase the intensity more than now.”
“… Gee, more than now?”
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to.”
As if those words rather stimulated Gwynn’s sympathy, she clenched her fists and shouted out loud.
“I will… !”
***
The day after the class with Gwynn ended like that.
Saladin didn’t come to class.
How will you deal with Saladin, Ion? It would be weird to just invite him for lunch 🤣🤨