65 – 29. What are the two of them doing right now? (3)
Helpless.
Puh!
“Ugh!”
Thud!
“…Urgh!”
As Dia screamed while receiving the blows, he harbored such a thought.
There was nothing he could do.
‘How should I handle this?’
Although he bravely attempted an unexpected attack due to the significant difference in skill level, once he was slammed onto the ground, all his plans were ruined.
In the midst of his confusion, Ian quickly climbed on top and began throwing punches.
Losing the upper position and being pummeled, it was an understatement to say that the situation was at its worst.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to address.
There might have been a way to escape by shifting his legs toward his buttocks and suddenly thrusting his hips.
He knew it. The problem was that he couldn’t put it into practice.
“Damn it! My bones!”
The waist is bouncing and the body is in no condition to sleep, so what to do. Right now, I couldn’t even move my legs, let alone do anything else.
“Ugh!”
My body let out a cry. It seemed to be screaming for surrender.
It wasn’t just a feeling.
Even as I struggled, Dias looked at his broken and crushed arm.
“It’s broken… It’s not just a fracture. It’s turned to dust!”
It didn’t show any visible injury, but the arm started to swell slowly.
From Noble mtl dot com
He knew best about his condition.
Therefore, he was sure.
“There’s no way. I’m done! I’m finished!”
There is no longer a way to defeat Ian.
Even if the possibility is slim, they say there’s no such thing as a 0% chance?
“Why isn’t there one! It’s here!”
If there was someone who made such comments, he would want to run up to them and slap them immediately.
How can one defeat this monster?
Of course, the only one who rushed in fearlessly.
Now he knew for sure.
He was not just outmatched, the opponent was on a level far beyond that.
He barely took one punch, and he wondered why this person couldn’t catch Ian and ran away.
If you feel an overwhelming gap, Dias couldn’t continue the duel.
“Sto.. Stop… Please stop.”
After an even more polite tone came out, the fierce punches were gathered.
“Stop. Even Ian, it’s time to withdraw.”
After the instructor’s intervention, Dias finally let out a breath he had been holding.
“…”
The bubbling sound hits the ear.
A somber expression of the first squad and a smile as if it were all skillful, in the 2nd or 3rd squad.
It was over. He had lost miserably so he would probably be subject to ridicule.
“While talking about being a commoner or whatever.”
It exceeded the subject. I thought it would. The same thing is probably coming.
If it had been normal, I would have raised my arm to shield my eyes from those gazes.
But Dias was different now.
“I don’t even know….”
He didn’t want to be swayed by their malicious stares.
Even if they laughed at his bloodied and swollen face, it didn’t matter. He was still consumed by recounting the recent battle.
“Teacher… You said you were the strongest in the Warrior Party. You said that the Earth and Sky Reversal couldn’t stop anyone on this continent.”
Why is there none? I can guarantee that even if it’s the teacher, if he were to face Ian, he would be defeated.
“Don’t say nonsense like that and don’t talk back to Ian Volkano.”
If they meet later, he will let out this anger.
Thinking that way, Dias exhaled.
“I was completely defeated.”
As always. He couldn’t adapt to defeat.
When helping his father hunt, he faced a big bear and won. He thought he had talent.
And that belief solidified as he learned from Hexasar.
In his youth, he considered himself unbeatable, and when he entered the Arcane Tower where nobles can’t easily enter, he showed excellence in practice.
He had only suffered two defeats in his life.
The first was a duel with his teacher, and the rest were all Ian.
“Now it’s the third time…. I thought I could win.”
Ultimately, it was a situation of defeat. However, he wasn’t as melancholic as before.
“But still, it’s a relief.”
It’s not particularly regrettable to think of him as a completely different powerhouse.
To be astonished even though he took a beating must mean it’s the end.
In that moment, Dias was able to peacefully accept the result.
“I can’t win… absolutely.”
It was the moment when he faced an insurmountable wall.
***
Bang!
“Hoo…”
-Ian…. Does it hurt a lot?
“It’s alright. It’s just a slight sting.”
However, there was blood.
“What’s wrong with a little blood? It’s something that can be treated anyway.”
After calming down the distressed Nathalion, Ian shifted his gaze to the mirror.
He washed off the flowing water and checked for visible wounds.
It wasn’t a big wound. Even if it was looked at closely, it was only a small cut.
Of course, one could argue about whether or not a scar might remain, but he didn’t really care.
“In a fight, you’re bound to get some scratches. It doesn’t matter if there are scars left.”
If you were someone who worked in a room doing paperwork, or had a job where you had to stand in front of people, it might be a big problem to have scars on your face.
But unless that was the case, having a dent on your face wouldn’t be a big deal.
If you put it nicely, you could even say you got a glorious wound.
However, what Nathalion was worried about was something else.
“It was dangerous… If I had gone up a bit more, it could have been a big problem…”
“That’s… undeniable.”
The part where Dias’ spear pierced was just below the eyes.
If he hadn’t blocked it in time, the bastard’s spear would have been stuck in his eye. It could have been a terrible incident.
It wasn’t particularly strange for Nathalion to react like this.
Perhaps it was because he was so angry that he was furious at the thought of leaving even a scar-free wound with regeneration.
“I’ll come over and hug you.”
“Okay…”
Ian stroked Nathalion’s head, who walked over and hugged him, raising the corners of his mouth.
He understood why she was angry. As a woman, it would seem strange to remain still after being subjected to such a thing.
However…. Ian didn’t care much.
“After all, I didn’t want revenge on Dias.”
Didn’t he give back what he owed for attacking his eyes? He suffered from various skills and finally got hit hard, so he won’t be able to move for a while.
Originally, that was when all the anger had dissipated, and the advantage wasn’t the end of it.
“Dias went into a sudden rampage, so the situation actually improved.”
Whether Leviathan bit Ariel or not is still unknown.
Therefore, Ian had to do everything to isolate her.
“First of all, I took away all the heroines. The problem was Dias.”
Flattering him to win his favor is not Ian’s style.
I would rather choose to go to Astelgia right away and bring Leviathan here, rather than doing such nonsense.
“It was difficult. I felt hesitant about bringing Leviathan here because Dias still had Ariel.”
But in the meantime, Dias did something useful.
Anyone who can read even a little bit of combat would know that Dias did something disrespectful. No platoon could cover it up.
“At the same time, there will be those who hold Ariel responsible… Even though it’s not her fault. Ariel has already lost her divinity due to the disastrous war game.”
And at a time when her performance is deteriorating, she will be in a state of anger. It seems like she will vent her frustration, targeting only this moment.
“Why don’t you manage someone who is in the same party? Is it appropriate for a hero to be with such a person? I will belittle her like that.”
At that moment, Ariel is completely isolated.
Not only heroines but also the soldiers who believed she was on their side will abandon her.
What can be done in such a difficult situation, that is the reason why he helped her.
That was the reason why Ian couldn’t hate Dias.
“Yeah… It’s actually good. All I have to do now is wait until the bait takes.”
It was when he was about to leave the bathroom after putting away his true Neltallion.
“Reyna?”
“…Senpai.”
The moment he faced her, who was waiting with tears streaming down her face.
Why is she behaving like that? Is it because her childhood friend hit her too hard and made her cry?
If that’s the case, what should I say to make an excuse? Should I apologize and say sorry first?
That was what Ian was thinking. But it seemed unnecessary.
Splat!
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Senpai.”
Reyna, who rushed into his arms, burst into tears.
***
Ian Volkov.
At first, Reyna didn’t think highly of him.
“I thought he was a bad person.”
It may be a rationalization, but since all the nobles she had seen were terrible, she thought Ian would be no different from them.
Arrogant and indulgent, they were no different from him, so she naturally didn’t have any favorable impressions of him.
“When I heard Ariel’s words, he seemed like that kind of person.”
The perpetrator of the pain I had always held in my heart, I thought it was Ian, and I hated him.
However, when I realized that it was all a misunderstanding, Reina didn’t hate Ian anymore.
That was the reason.
“I will definitely win. Senior!”
The reason why she earnestly wished for Ian’s victory instead of her childhood friend.
Of course, she never thought that Ian would lose, but wouldn’t it be good to see him completely overpowering?
It could be an opportunity for those who doubted him to have a favorable impression.
She had watched the match with pleasant imagination. But the moment it started, her expression stiffened.
“W-What are you doing? Dius, do you have any thoughts?”
Dius launched a preemptive attack against Ian.
That wasn’t so bad. The problem was in the way he attacked.
“Are you trying to stab his eyes with a spear?”
It was a dirty attack that anyone could tell was purposeful and malicious.
It was a terrible foul that should never happen in a duel, which was not a matter of life or death.
“If even a little damage was done to the eyes of the senior…”
Attacking in a way that could blind someone, is that even acceptable?
Ian is the eldest son of a viscount. Not just any viscount, but of the Baekjeongbaek family.
No matter how much Arkra shouted about equality between commoners and nobles, it was not something that could be taken lightly for a commoner to commit such a dirty foul against the son of a respectable family.
“H-How…”
It was terrifying.
She couldn’t bear to see Ian truly angry.
Her childhood friend being retaliated against? That didn’t matter. It had been a long time since their friendship dwindled from the moment she witnessed such an attack.
What she was afraid of was that Ian would become disillusioned and lose interest in the village.
“Thanks to the senior’s interest and help, the village is barely surviving… If he loses interest…”
The village will return to how it was before. It would be a life repeating the pain and suffering of living in poverty day after day.
What Dias did was something dangerous enough.
The reason she had run to find Ian after the duel ended was also because of that.
“I have to apologize…”
She thought it was right to seek forgiveness from him who was enraged.
What should she say? Is apologizing the right thing to do first?
She was organizing the words she had to say in her head.
“Reina?”
“…Senior.”
Ian’s face seemed astonished, and it felt like her mind went blank.
In the end, her body acted before her thoughts could take shape.
Splat!
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry, senior.”
Tears flowed endlessly. She knew she should apologize, but she couldn’t find the words.
From Noble mtl dot com
‘What should I do about this wound…’
Although it was small, just looking at the injury right below her eye made her unable to think.
Ian casually embraced the helpless her.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but…’
He didn’t know why she was crying like this.
It could be because she was angered by the defeat against Dias, or maybe it hurt too much in her heart from getting hurt.
But in the current situation, it seemed more likely to be the latter.
‘If she really hated me, she would have slapped me or cursed at me.’
But that wasn’t the case, right? He expected that wasn’t the reason she came for.
Once he made his judgment, there was only one thing he had to do.
While holding her in his arms and seeing Reina sob, Ian calmly spoke.
“You don’t have to worry. The things you’re thinking won’t happen.”
There was no miraculous moment where Reina’s tears stopped. But it was back when he lent her his shoulder to console her.
“…What are you two doing right now?”
A familiar voice was heard from behind.
When he turned his head, he saw it was Ariel.
“…Ariel?”
“Tell me. What are you doing right now?”
His little sister, with a face full of scars, looked at him with livelier eyes.