5. Bread and dagger (18)
I turned my back to the night and the girl stood there.
The late night forest was silent. It was a place where no one would visit unless it was lovers having a tryst. Only the occasional secret whispers revealed their presence.
Even that was shattered by the chirping of birds.
In the end, only silence settled in the clearing of the forest.
It was an excellent condition to calm down and focus on the sword.
I was enjoying the feel of the wooden sword I was holding for the first time in a long time.
It was a cold and soft feeling.
After swinging it a few times as a test, I felt the light weight. It was a sensation that could not be imitated with a real sword made of metal.
How much is the liberation from that heavy weight?
I couldn’t feel it.
There was no such thing as practice in the battles I had fought so far.
Every fight was a real fight.
There was no time to leisurely hold the wooden sword.
I always had a knife in my hand, and it had been months of blood and flesh spilling victories. I learned the weight of life with a real sword.
That’s why the light weight of the wooden sword, which I felt for the first time in a while, was particularly happy.
It had been a long time since he went into battle without carrying anything on his back.
In Dalian, was Professor Derek’s last lecture right before the homecoming festival?
Even that was training that required tension comparable to that of actual combat. It was an intensity that could not be compared to sword facing Seria for a change of scenery.
That’s how I put on a blurry smile and adjusted my swordplay position.
It was a posture that felt somewhat relaxed.
On the other hand, the girl standing on my opposite side was clearly nervous.
She breathed in, and with each exhalation, the girl’s chest expanded and relaxed. It meant taking a deep breath.
It appeared to be forcibly calming the tension.
It was a sparring competition purely based on skill.
It was a fight that did not need to be fretful, but Seria was burning more fighting spirit than necessary in this sparring.
I couldn’t figure out why.
It was just that the sparring with ‘me’ from the future must have had an effect.
Not too long ago, Seria challenged ‘me’ from the future. And without even a single exception, they had to suffer a devastating defeat.
At that time, it must have been not only Seria’s body that was destroyed.
It was Seria who grew up being called a sword genius.
As the daughter of the Yurdina family, she has devoted herself to only one sword despite all kinds of sorrow. For her, it was more than black self-esteem.
I didn’t even know that I wanted to take this opportunity to prove my skills again.
Even if he competed with me on equal footing, the goal was achieved. Because I was able to refute the claim of ‘I’ who came from the future.
That comment about Seria being no longer helpful.
So I sharpened my momentum even more.
It was a battle between prosecutors and prosecutors. It would only leave irreversible scars on Seria’s pride if she acted indiscriminately.
And the moment Seria, who had calmed down, took a straight posture.
“… … going.”
A gray gale rushed.
Covered in the hazy darkness, blue eyes twinkled. It was so sharp that it was hard to believe it was a wooden sword.
Kang, the sword struck with all its might and the sword bounced back.
The wooden sword was not just an armament for practice, as long as it felt heavy, as if metal were colliding, in Seria’s and me’s hands.
It was a weapon that could take an opponent’s life at any time if he wanted to.
As if to prove this, Seria’s sword strikes surged one after another. The time when I was about to strike from the bottom left to the top right, inside the trajectory of the hatched line.
I suddenly realized that the posture was somehow familiar.
The secret feast of the Yurdina family, the golden sword.
The sword strike that soared into the sky split into three streams at once and plunged down.
At the blue beam of light, I vomited my astonishment and stepped back.
The sword strike grazed and the front island was slightly cut. A few drops of blood splattered and I felt a sharp pain.
Thus, the distinction between a wooden sword and a real sword was meaningless.
I had no choice but to be embarrassed as I was light-hearted in Dalian.
Urgent words leaked out of my mouth.
“Seria, what kind of sparring and family rivalry… … !”
“… … going!”
However, Seria seemed to have already made up her mind.
Seria, biting her lip, stepped forward again. Then, blank, the space was compressed, and the girl’s model was fired.
I just realized
Why was Seria so nervous?
In the first place, Seria and I had different minds when it came to sparring.
Sarah was sincere.
And the only thing that can deal with sincerity is sincerity.
I gritted my teeth and turned magic power to my whole body.
Then, the sleeping senses were awakened, and the vision illustrated the space. Seria was holding her sword down in a straight posture.
see.
The imaginary trajectory was predicting Seria’s next move. Extremely sensitive senses were no different from limited foresight.
Indeed, he was an orthodox among orthodox sects.
The series of attacks that continued like flowing water seemed to have no gaps. If it had been the old me, I would have gotten stuck.
Yes, if it was me in the past.
I wasn’t what I am now.
My hand crushed the solid lines of space. The mana in the body was exhausted and a strange sense of exhaustion arose, but it was an action worth it.
Seria’s sword strikes followed a strange trajectory.
The wooden sword couldn’t reach me in the distorted space. My sword leaped out of the gap and fired a series of attacks like a beast.
Kang, Kang, Kang!
Seria hurriedly rearranged her stance on the defensive. It was a quick response, but it couldn’t even fill the inevitable gap that occurred in the meantime.
It seemed to fall, but at the same time swords collided with each other, another step was taken.
Seria hesitated at the unreasonable approach and stepped back. Seria, who was on the defensive right away, couldn’t show me an active response.
And kicking and kicking.
Because I was on guard, my blow was blocked by Seria’s sword. It didn’t matter though. All I was after was time.
Once again, the sword strike with all its power struck Seria’s sword body.
Seria groaned and stepped back.
It was an achievement that I could never have achieved a few months ago. It was because the gap between Seria and me was significant at the time.
But now I had a strange intuition.
The certainty that he could defeat Seria.
While Seria took a few steps back and staggered, my sword fell to the bottom left.
A big movement would always be accompanied by such a gap.
Seria rushed at me again, as if not wanting to miss this opportunity.
that was a mistake
The sword that fell to the lower left soars up into the sky.
Only then did Seria’s eyes widen. It was a reversal of the battles we shared at the beginning.
No, there were differences.
Even if she tried to avoid it, Seria was already too late.
From the apex, five strands of silvery light poured down.
Seria raised her sword face and tried to block it. However, it was impossible to block the sword light from falling down like raindrops one by one.
Suddenly, a rupture sound broke out.
It was the sound of a wooden sword breaking. Seria couldn’t stand my conversion blow and had to take several steps back.
And kneel down, spitting up bloody water.
It seemed that he somehow minimized the impact by using his body’s magical energy.
In the process, it was concluded that the wooden sword was crushed due to the oversaturation of magical power, and Seria’s blood vessels were messed up and she vomited blood.
The winner was clear.
I said “Whoa”, catching my breath and withdrawing my sword.
What came out immediately after that were vague words of concern.
“Seria, are you okay?”
It was a pretty brazen thing for someone who used an aura to win.
But what can I do? If Seria is sincere, then I have no choice but to confront her with sincerity.
A white hand held me back as I tried to sneak closer.
Seria tapped my chest a few times, took out a healing potion from her chest, and drank it down. Only after that did she seem somewhat settled.
In no time at all, her complexion had turned pale.
Seria smiled self-deprecatingly and staggered to her feet.
“It’s a complete defeat, Senior Ian… I am no longer an opponent.”
“I was lucky.”
My humility made the line on Seria’s lips even more bitter.
I didn’t say anything until Seria spoke again. There were not even the usual words of consolation.
It was only up to Seria to accept defeat.
I just hoped it would help Seria grow in the long run. Seria wasn’t a weak swordsman enough to be defeated, so she would definitely overcome the pain and stand up.
Like that wind, Seria exhaled a rough breath as if relieved.
The girl’s eyes drew soft curves.
“That’s great, Senior Ian… How did you grow up in such a short period of time?”
It seemed that my growth was finally proven.
It was also the recognition of the opponent who had been defeated a few months ago without being able to resist properly.
There was no way I wouldn’t be happy.
I had already surpassed Seria.
Enough to get a win with quite a margin.