76 – Climbing-11
“Sister. I am so nervous. What should I do?”
“Please. Please, please calm down and think about what to do.”
The North is basically barren.
Since it was a province fighting monsters and fighting large herds of beasts at all times, there was no use of force. However, it took an enormous amount of effort to turn that force into gold coins.
The northern part was vast, and there were no trade routes with other countries except for the part blocked by mountains or the sea.
Unless you are a brave sailor who can launch a ship in a quasi-freezing port when the weather gets colder, or a reckless merchant who can lead goods to the southern kingdom avoiding the eyes of the empire, you will eventually have to deal with the empire.
The fur of a white wolf or the remains of northern monsters were expensive items, but when the empire that bought them started to control the price, they had no choice but to open their eyes and take it.
Even if the people of the north are strong, they are not strong enough to compete head-to-head with the Empire.
Even if a few nearby villages are plundered, there will still be a future in which the Marquis whines a little, receives enormous supplies and soldiers from the imperial capital, and is then brutally subjugated.
“We didn’t come here to play…”
Because of that, it was not an exaggeration to say that the transaction with the imperial family was a business in which the life and death of the northern kingdom was staked.
The scale was not small, and the price they set had a great influence on the price selection of other imperial merchants.
“You, remember the days when you ran out of flour two years ago and only ate meat porridge?”
“Yeah, I remember…”
“If we make a mistake, not only us but the entire nation could suffer the humiliation. Did you understand?”
“Uh… I see, Sister Alexandra.”
“Be careful. Oksana. You and I think that each and every action is being monitored. Just in case, don’t do anything that will get caught, and don’t be rude to the royal family or men.”
“I know…”
Oksana lowered her head, her face downcast. However, she woke up with her head stiff within a few minutes.
“But my mother and father… Told me to do as I please.”
“Those unprepared nobles…”
“Huh? Uh! This is completely disrespectful! Tell your mother?”
“Tell me. Tell me clearly without missing anything.”
The northern royal family was overly familial.
Like the northern women, who are hot and have no backs, their moves were unstoppable.
It was originally a northern kingdom that lived in a rough and simple way. If trade was disrupted, their quality of life would be greatly disrupted, but there was no major problem with survival itself.
And the royal family hadn’t forgotten the terrible insult Alexandra had inflicted on her a year earlier.
“How can you be sane when you leave this troublemaker to another country…”
The princess was treated as a s*x offender and insulted by the crown prince’s man.
An ordinary royal family would have considered the gains to be gained from the incident, but Alexandra, the party to the violence, was the only one who seriously considered the national interest.
If she had followed her directives from her royal family, the diplomacy between the Empire and the Northern Kingdom would have been greatly disrupted.
“…Is that about me?”
“Of course.”
They weren’t people who didn’t know that Oksana was bright, full of energy, and selfish.
Her The reason why she dared to join her envoys was an order given by her cold-hearted calculation based on her boiling emotions.
In short, it was as if Oksana had received a secret order to calmly commit a rudeness that was bigger and more beautiful than the rudeness committed by the Crown Princess’s lover.
“Why?”
Actually, the person in question was smiling with a nonchalant face.
“Okay, Oksana. When a male gladiator comes out, don’t pretend to know, don’t talk to me. Just watch quietly. Okay?”
“Isn’t it okay to be very handsome?”
“Even worse.”
Even Alexandra, when she first visited the Empire, she was unaware of ‘how badly’ this country protects men.
It was a moment that made me dizzy even thinking about how I would have been treated if I had even just brushed my collar.
Even now, she could feel that the eyes of the people of her empire who were looking at her were not all pretty.
“Never. Never.”
Those who blindly followed the maids, knights, Logan, or ‘all men’ who supported the Crown Princess thought that Logan’s accusation was fabricated, too.
They thought that the imperial family, which did not want to distort the ‘diplomatic relationship with the north’, had entered, and that Alexandra had crushed the crime and evidence.
“Then, what if I talk to you first?”
“Don’t make eye contact. Reply with the necessary words. Short answer if possible. If possible, talk to people from other empires.”
“It’s strange…”
“I’m really, really serious. After you meet the men here at least once, you’ll think the men in the north are angels.”
What stole Oksana’s gaze, which tilted her head, were the busy moving knights.
“Do you want to start?”
Oksana looked over her ring with her eyes full of anticipation.
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“I will start preparing.”
The wizards came out and began casting spells on the sword of the knight standing in front of me.
“I think it’s an honor to be in a place like this!”
“What’s that? Don’t worry too much.”
“It might cause trouble…”
The knight who was chosen as my opponent was almost young rather than young.
He is short and has a delicate body, but he seemed to have gone through quite a bit of training.
“Good match. Let’s try it.”
“Okay!”
When the preparations were finished, the maids guided us to the ring.
It was gorgeous. It wasn’t the familiar sandy floor and the dusty space, but the gazes of not too many people pressed me hard.
The nobility of the empire were whispering and complaining about the gladiator entering ‘this sacred palace’.
Rather, it didn’t feel bad. It was more tolerable than feeling the pitying gaze on me now that I was sick of it.
“Wow, he’s a real man! He’s a gladiator! What kind of armor did he wear?”
“Oksana. Please be quiet!”
In comparison, the manners of the audience on the northern side of the envoys were relatively not bad. No, it was the best.
‘Oxana…’
Could that child be the princess of the northern kingdom? I didn’t hate the eyes full of curiosity.
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Standing on top of the narrow ring, he exchanged glances with the knight in front of him.
“The person standing in front is our empire’s brave and honorable gladiator, victorious in countless battles, a warrior that burns like a flame. Sir Evan.”
Strictly speaking, I am not a knight, so it was not appropriate to call me ‘Sir’.
It wasn’t just that. The emcee’s draining voice, although somewhat dignified, did not have the thrill of making the blood boil.
However, swords are different. I didn’t have a separate conversation with the knight in front of me, so after all, this must have been a proper sword fight.
The moderator, who introduced the knight in front of me with a short introduction, announced the start of the fight with his quiet voice.
“Whoa…”
I felt a strange feeling when I looked at the knight in front of me with a proper posture.
Strange. Unnatural.
“Hmm…”
“Suck!”
After taking a few steps into it, I felt that her posture was absurdly atrophied.
“…Um?”
It was a sword-to-sword, shield-to-shield fight. Up to a certain level, there was nothing strange about freely closing the distance.
However, it is atrophied. As if the gladiator holding the spear allowed space for the gladiator holding the sword, she was looking at me with a tense face.
“I’ll go first.”
“…!”
The knight was surprised with his eyes. I swung my sword lightly and fired the first attack.
“Quit!”
Her sword moved quickly. The power inside it was by no means small, and I had to admit my carelessness with a slightly surprised face.
However, nothing happened after that. I was very nervous and focused on the shield, but she didn’t try to poke my gap.
I am not a beginner. It didn’t seem like he possessed Dana’s level of swordsmanship, but he was not a gladiator, no, a knight who was weak enough to be unable to demonstrate his skills in such a clumsy fight.
I continued to attack several more times with a frown. However, no matter how you think about it, it was awkward.
It’s not that the response was lacking, it was none at all. It’s not a lack of skill either.
In a bad delusion, I had no choice but to clench my teeth.
It’s not like she’s being careless.
If you’re too nervous, you don’t know, if you’re careless, you have to move more randomly or show excessively restrained movements.
However, the only time she moved properly and used her sword was when the blade of my sword was in her arms.
At that time, she moved noisily and fully utilized her swordsmanship and footwork to show off her skills.
It can’t be called a search battle, but it couldn’t be seen as a movement for victory at all.
“Ha…”
I couldn’t help but click my tongue at the fact that my hypothesis was correct.
I was careless. Not from her, from the side of her knights who sent her from her.
Without understanding at all what kind of person I am, I sent her with the thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be solved if I just send a knight in moderation to play with her?’
I didn’t think it was important to fight against me and win, or to have a plausible match.
The knight in front of me fell here after receiving an order to ‘don’t hurt the man’ no matter what.
I didn’t even think of the possibility that I would have attacked first, nor that the attack would be so sharp, or at least organized to the point of ‘feeling threatened’.
“Ha…”
I had a lot of eyes to see, so I couldn’t bear to curse.
I had no intention of ruining the show. However, I couldn’t help but lose my energy.
This fight, I will never lose. No, it was a battle that was impossible to lose.