Chapter 40. I couldn’t handle it (3), but
my prediction was wrong.
I misread the direction Kalyan wanted to go. If it were anyone else, they would have been momentarily confused and lost their minds.
Of course, Demirea’s response was different.
I quickly turned my head towards the sword flying from the opposite direction. Demirea, who had sent her sword to the right, turned her body as if she could undo any mistake she made. Putting all his strength into the tips of his feet that supported the floor, he swung his sword towards Calian, who was standing directly opposite him.
Instead of receiving Dmirea’s powerful attack, Calian moved his sword quickly, as if sliding his feet on the floor. The force was concentrated on the blade of the sword, not the tip.
– Kaaaang!
With a long striking sound, Demirea’s sword, which had lost its direction, shook greatly. Without wasting time, the tip of the dark red sword looks as if it has split into numerous branches and aims at the neck and heart once again.
– Kaaaang! Kagang! Kaang! Kang!
At the same time, the movement was like aiming at each other and moving away from each other in an instant. A sword full of determination to never be defeated easily and a sword greedy to reveal every possible opening without missing a single point constantly targeted each other’s weaknesses.
– Kang! Kaang!
Demirea pulled the extended sword with all her might and bent down to avoid the incoming attack. Although it was tied tightly, a few strands of short hair came loose and were cut by the sharp energy and scattered to the floor.
Demirea’s eyes move quickly. Instead of looking at the tip of the sword, he watched the movement of Calian’s shoulders and feet. Demirea, who correctly read the direction Calian was heading in, rushed towards Calian as if she would not be defeated by his speed this time and increased the strength that supported her waist.
With that, he delivered a blow to Calian with the greatest force he could muster. The weight added to the force gained speed and became weight again.
– Boom!
It’s fast and heavy. The power from the feet to the legs, from the legs to the waist, from the waist to the shoulders, and then to the hands flew as if it would split Kalian’s chest in two.
Calian’s foot lightly kicked the floor.
The tip of the dark red sword in his hand gently landed on the back of the flying silver sword. Then it moved upward as if grazing the back of the sword. Instead of absorbing the force, he let it go and climbed up as if he were going to scrape off the back of Demirea’s sword from the tip to the handle.
– Ga-ga-ga-ga-gak!
As the strong and fast friction continued for a long time, sparks flew. A horrifying friction sound rang out from the dark red sword, which created sparks that flew in all directions. Only after Calian got close to Dmirea did the sound of air being torn from the tip of his powerful silver sword be heard.
Just before it was blocked by the guard attached to the silver sword, the dark red sword changed direction faster than a split second.
Calian, who neutralized Dmirea’s quick and strong blow, stabbed Dmirea’s hand, which was holding the sword, with the tip of his sword. For the first time, I received a shallow wound on the back of my hand from failing to dodge a light attack aimed at a non-vital area.
– Kaaaaang!
Due to the wound she had just received, Demirea’s strength in holding the sword momentarily weakened. Calian’s sword, which did not miss the opportunity when one of his hands, which had been containing all its strength, became loose, struck Demirea’s sword straight.
ah.
With a small sigh, a long blood line appeared on Demirea’s neck.
“Don’t make any predictions.”
– Teuong!
The heavy sound of a heavy sword falling to the ground, unable to fly far out of one’s hand, rang out.
“If you don’t want to die.”
And Calian’s voice followed.
* * *
Kyrie, who had been watching Calian and Demirea while standing far away, turned his head. Kyrie’s eyes, which had different colors, turned to Plantz, who had not yet taken his eyes off Calian, who was examining Demirea’s sword after sparring.
Kyrie spoke first. I thought I knew why Plantz didn’t look away.
“Are you ruminating?”
Only then did Plantz look at Kyrie and nod once.
“The fight between you two was long. Do you remember everything?”
“remember.”
Plantz, who was about to nod once again, opened his mouth to give an answer.
Calian had crossed swords with Plants or Kyrie many times, but they had never exchanged swords for as long as now. This is because it took so long to deliver fighting, sparring, and education all at once.
And Plantz remembered it all from beginning to end. However, that did not mean that ‘every attack and defense was stored in memory.’
“I don’t think you were able to follow the prince’s movements. Is that correct?”
Plantz, looking up at the man who had become a knight of Calian after receiving a letter of appointment from Lemain without any grand oath or ceremony, nodded without hiding his head.
“It’s still too early.”
“If you don’t mind, I will show you again the swordsmanship that the prince practiced today.”
He saw both of them fighting, but unfortunately, Plantz was unable to capture all of Calian’s movements. But it wasn’t Kirie.
Of course, because I jumped over a wall, I couldn’t keep up with Calian’s speed and block or block him, but I was able to follow him with my eyes.
Plantz, faced with unexpected kindness, looked at Kyrie with silent eyes. As I looked at Kirie, who was as tall as a birch tree in the back garden of Chermil Palace, I thought of Hina, who was tiny and seemed to have lost all her height to her older brother. Plantz, who thought of the one thing the two had in common, who thought they had nothing in common, spoke in a low voice.
“They are strange siblings.”
“Why are we strange?”
“Because we look alike.”
The light green eyes that said that moved forward again. It was directed at Calian, who said a few words to Demirea that Plantz could not hear. I didn’t see Kirie’s face tighten as if she couldn’t understand what you were talking about again.
“Just like that for no reason. Keep going.”
“… Did you think that I was being too kind when I said I would show you my swordsmanship or that Hina paid attention to Prince Plants?”
Kirie, who barely and with great difficulty understood the meaning of what Planz was trying to say, asked.
“Is it too much? Is it too much?”
Plantz swallowed the words of not knowing which of the two he was talking about and turned his head towards Kirie again. And he gave a slightly delayed reply to the offer to restore Calian’s swordsmanship.
“Go, Wilhelm.”
“Can you go now? Vice Commander Hertz will be looking for you again. I won’t forget you, so it’s okay to meet after you finish your schedule.”
“doesn’t care.”
Plantz, who really doesn’t care about the blue-haired wizard, picked up his sword and went out. Now I was thinking that it would be difficult to decide whether Demirea’s sword or my own sword would be heavier.
* * *
It was only after I let go of the sword that I realized I was out of breath.
Demirea let out a few short breaths and slightly lowered her head towards Calian.
“thank you.”
I didn’t feel surprised about losing in sparring.
Calian experienced his skill with the sword again and knew very well that there was no luck in joining the path of the sword.
Calian has better skills than Demirea, who is trying hard enough. It seemed like there was a difference in talent, so I thought about being a little jealous of it, but decided against it.
– Don’t overdo it.
Isn’t there a difference between chasing and envying? If I’m jealous, I’ll overdo it, so I thought I’d just relax and drink a cup of tea today.
Now that you know the extent of the difference in skill, all you have to do is swing the sword again.
“If you follow, you will catch up, and if you catch up, there will come a day when you are ahead.”
At the end of those thoughts, Demirea said this.
Calian suddenly didn’t ask what it meant, but just nodded. This was because Vern remembered saying something similar in front of his swordsman teacher, Teilan.
Calian moved his feet and picked up the fallen sword. After checking once again the weight of the sword, which was much heavier than when he saw it in Siegfried’s Order, he looked apologetic when he saw that the blade had become somewhat dull. Winning in sparring was not something to be sorry about, but damaging the sword was something to be sorry about.
“ah.”
Then, realizing that that wasn’t the only thing he had to apologize for, he took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket.
“I’m sorry. Demirea.”
When their swords clashed, they made a murderous sound as if they were going to devour them at any moment, but then quickly returned to their usual kind faces and apologized.
As it happened, Demirea, who saw Calian speaking with a handkerchief in one hand and his sword in the other, smiled and took the sword first. Since I was handling a knife, minor wounds didn’t bother me that much. Besides, there was someone who would treat me right away anyway.
“You don’t have to worry about it because you can just go to the Wilhelm Pavilion.”
“okay.”
Calian seemed to have decided not to care about the fact that he had just drawn a red line around his fiancé’s neck, and he smiled as if it was okay since Demirea said it was okay.
what. Would Demirea’s way of thinking, which is closer to that of a knight than that of a nobleman, be different just because she is Calian?
“In Siegfried’s territory, there is no one who uses a sword as fast as the prince. Thanks to you, I learned a lot.”
“It won’t be in Kairis either.”
Calian, who was already thinking about Teilan, responded like this. Calian nodded and opened his mouth, perhaps knowing that he had spilled something that would make Alan want to slap the pretty prince on the back.
“I learned a lot too. I’ve really improved a lot.”
“Is that so.”
“You are definitely different from Lord Siegfried. Of course, Lord Siegfried had to deal with you a lot at the time, but it seems like your swordsmanship is more difficult.”
“Lighter sword techniques are passed down in my family. Of course, I learn both types, but the sword I use is a little different from my father’s.”
Calian nodded, saying something like that.
As if they had made a promise, neither of them spoke about the exchange that took place just a moment ago. Even without adding more words, he taught by showing enough, and Demirea also recognized everything that Calian had tried to teach her in the sparring just before, without leaving out anything. Both of them had that level of skill.
“But the sword is a little damaged.”
“The person you introduced me to, Lawton, is very skilled. You don’t have to worry about that either.”
Demirea, who said this, told about bringing blacksmith Giggs, the owner of Lawton Blacksmith, into the mansion. Calian chuckled when he heard that he had hired the person he had told him about in case the mansion was short of staff. It was because I thought it was too much of a Demirea-like behavior.
“The knights’ training is progressing without any problems. When do you plan to welcome them into the palace?”
“Aren’t the people on Briesen’s side mixed up?”
“Yes. It seems that Count Aprin paid a lot of attention. There is no one who stands out.”
“Good.”
Calian, who heard praise for Aizen Aprin, who was helping him gather and train his knight forces, made a satisfied face as if he himself had been praised.
“If you get the chance, meet Count Eifrin. It won’t be a bad idea. I think I want to bring the Count to the capital, but I can’t because there are too many lines connected to me.”
“Yes. But Gray Briesen…”
“That’s later.”
Demirea, who was about to ask Gray Brisen when he was planning to bring him to the capital and whether some of the people he considered as new margrave candidates were planning to meet him in person, fell silent.
Demirea recalled that Kyrie was standing quite a distance away from the two sparring, and nodded as if she understood Calian’s words.
In the wind, a single drop of sweat hanging from the end of Yan’s silky blonde hair, the same color as Yan’s, fell to the floor. After seeing that scene, Calian realized that he had been careless and used his magic with a smile.
“for a moment.”
A magical energy that was completely different from the eerie feeling felt from the sword made of aura passed by Demirea.
The sweat dried and the heat cooled down.
Demirea, who had been freed from the drenched state she had been in due to the most nervous sweat she had recently, raised the corners of her mouth as if she was pleased.
“Sure, magic helps a lot.”
“Does it help?”
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No matter how hard you wash it, it keeps it clean, so it’s good for working overtime, and it doesn’t leave behind the smell of alcohol, so you don’t have to worry about it the day after drinking. It also removes red tea stains from clothes.
It also removes cat hair.
“… It does help.”
Calian, who was muttering with a grin, looked at Demirea and said.
“Can you come back after I meet Hina and get treatment? I’d like to have a meal and talk while taking a walk with my fiancé.”
“Yes. It’s time.”
Demirea nodded, ignoring Taryeong, a fiancé she had no interest in. In fact, it was largely because I couldn’t pay much attention because I kept thinking about what I had regretted in the sparring a little while ago.
Thanks to that, the thought of quickly going back to the mansion to drink a cup of tea and rest was passed over without any particular thought about the secret-filled words Calian had spilled while talking about Kairis, or why the energy felt from Calian’s sword and magic were so different.
Calian said with a grin, perhaps knowing that he was no longer getting hit on the back by Allen.
“Come on time. Let’s eat something delicious.”
Even though he stopped hiding his auror, he still eats well, so it looks like he’s trying to grow taller.
Calian made a happy face at that thought.
