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Did he even feel my gaze?
Ian, who had been glaring down at Elliott with a disinterested expression on his face, turned his head to face me.
When our eyes suddenly locked, I made a face of knowing for a moment.
‘No. Wait, wait.’
Come to think of it, my last conversation with Ian wasn’t very good.
Not only that, the atmosphere was downright bad. Ian gave me a cold tone, and I showed blatant anger there.
I nodded my head indifferently, hiding what I almost put on as a welcome expression. Ian looked at me with strange eyes, as if he were examining me, and then nodded.
“The Commander and the saintess are exchanging eye greetings.”
“How can he be affectionate….”
“Haa. I feel like I ate a sweet cake just by looking at it.”
People around us talked about where we felt the energy of our dry greeting.
I looked at Elliot this time. The boy I hadn’t seen in a long time had changed so much that I almost couldn’t recognise it.
Unlike the first time we met, his clean face shone with boyish freshness, and his body, which had been too thin, had put on some weight. It was a beauty that I could see why he became the main character in the original book.
But the way he looked at Ian with suspicion was the same as when he first met him.
“Raise your sword.”
Ian’s nonchalant tone startled Elliot.
“You will keep your promise, right?”
Ian gave a cold smile at the bold question.
“Of course.”
What is it. What was the promise?
I couldn’t help but lean over Annette because I wanted to know more.
“Miss Annette. What does it mean to promise? Do you know?”
“You know, Madam Irene.”
Annette whispered excitedly.
“If that boy succeeds in attacking the captain even once, the captain has decided to personally become the boy’s teacher.”
“Aha……?”
“As Saintess Irene knows, the captain is famous for not taking in students, right? Since this is a golden opportunity, the boy must be extremely desperate, right now.”
Annette’s passionate explanation reminded me of a professional match commentator. She kept whispering.
“To be honest, about half the people in this room want the boy to fail. Everyone wants to be Commander Ian’s disciple, but it doesn’t matter if no one does it. If someone does become Commander Ian’s only disciple, it will be very eye-opening.”
“Oh my…”
I tilted my head.
Now I know why there were so many people at the sparring match. But there were still things that were not clear.
‘Didn’t Ian already say he’d be Elliot’s godfather?’
The godfather is a concept that is one step higher than the teacher, so if it were known, the repercussions would be greater than now.
In other words, Ian was provoking Elliot with something he had already decided to do.
Elliot, who didn’t even know that, was making an expression about to make a life-and-death decision.
Rarely does someone get the chance to learn from a sword master, so it seems normal for him to do so. Elliot was more ambitious about the real sword master, so it would be more.
“Then let’s start sparring.”
One nervous-looking knight who seemed to be a high-ranking knight said.
He soon put up the red flag.
“Start!”
With a shout to announce the start,everyone in the crowd stretched their necks. It was the same for me too.
However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the work was over in an instant.
Plop.
Elliot smacked his butt on the floor.
‘Huhh?’
I stupidly blinked my eyes.
What happened?
Evidently, just a moment ago, Ian was hanging loose in his throat.
The next second, however, Ian’s wooden sword was directed at Elliot’s neck, as if what had just happened was a lie. With a perfect sword-fighting stance, just like in a book.
As if I weren’t the only one who didn’t understand what was going on, the crowd was quiet for a moment.
The one who broke the silence was a high-ranking knight in charge of refereeing.
“Co-Commander Ian Esteban wins!”
A high-ranking knight shouted in a panicked voice.
It seemed that the moment the sword touched his neck, victory or defeat would be decided.
“Get up. It’s a best-of-three game.”
Ian spoke in a hollow voice.
Elliot, who was lying on the floor with a dazed face, gritted his teeth and got up.
The boy’s face was still full of bewilderment, but his sense of humor was not dead.
“……I’m sorry to show you my ugly face. The next one won’t be the same.”
“Really.”
Ian smiled faintly.
“The second match begins!”
The flag was raised for the second time by a senior knight.
This time, it was a little different than before.
It was Elliot who jumped out first. Elliot kicked off the ground and slammed his sword at Ian. Sharpened wooden blades rushed towards Ian.
“Heub.”
Unknowingly, I put both hands over my mouth.
However, Elliot’s wooden sword never reached Ian.
There seemed to be nowhere to retreat, but in the blink of an eye, Ian’s body was out of the path of Elliot’s sword. Ian, who lightly dodged as if he had teleported, struck Elliot on the back of his neck with his sword.
“Heok!”
Elliott, who had been hit on the back of her neck, fell to the ground like a doll with unraveled threads.
“That’s the last one. Get up.”
Ian spoke coldly to Elliott, who was shaking while falling down.
“If you’re a knight, you shouldn’t turn your back, even when you fall. Even so, you’re going to carry the name of God and wield his sword?”
Elliott trembled at the cold words and tried to get himself up.
“Pfft, you’re putting on airs.”
“That’s what I’m saying. There’s not much to it after all.”
A few giggled as if accusing Elliot of ugliness. They were supposed to be the sewage among the sewage.
I knew most of the knights surrounding the gymnasium. It’s not that Elliott is lacking, it’s that Ian is overpowering.
If he had sent low-ranking knights who laughed at Elliott instead, he wouldn’t have lasted even a second.
Most of the people who knew that were silent as if cold water had been poured on them. The lower-ranking knights also gradually recognised the atmosphere and stopped giggling.
Finally, Elliot stood up and glared at Ian with big eyes. His eyes looked somewhat different from before, when he was full of boyish passions.
“One more, please.”
Elliot said in a voice that stifled the tremor.
The referee announced the start of the third match, and this time neither of them moved first.
“…….”
The audience was covered with stifling silence.
Ian was looking at Elliott in a relaxed manner at first glance.
Elliot, on the other hand, pierced his wooden sword with both hands and glared at Ian’s every movement.
Suddenly, I had a strange feeling.
I feel like I’ve seen this scene in my dreams someday.
‘It’s not déjà vu.’
It wasn’t just a deja vu phenomenon.
Because I actually read this scene in a book.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same scene. Because Ian and Elliott never fought like this in the original work.
But there was only one time when the two men faced each other and raised their swords as they do now. It was around the time that the original work was rushing towards its climax.
At that time, Ian was already stained with witchcraft. He succeeded in revenge, but his soul was no longer his.
Losing his reason, he killed even his subordinates at random, and no one could stop him as the strongest Holy Knight in history.
The male and female protagonists of the original work came before him.
Elliot, who was surrounded by the heroine’s divine power like a protective shield, stood in the way of Ian, just like now.
I know I can’t stop Ian with my own skills, but with the urgency of having to face it nonetheless.
The scene of the two clashing played in my head.
And at the same time.
“What…!”
The knights around them all held their breath.
Elliot, who had been watching Ian’s movements all the time, kicked the ground first and jumped up.
It was similar to the second match, but the angle was a little different.
Elliot, who flew low like a wild beast, tearing at the nape of his prey, stabbed his sword at Ian.
‘Ah.’
In an instant, as if playing a stretched tape, the scene in front of my eyes flowed slowly.
Elliott aims at Ian’s chest with a wooden sword held in both hands.
With an attitude that seemed to have no will to resist, Ian was still watching the sword.
‘This scene.’
I knew this scene.
It was the scene where Elliot defeated the blackened Ian as the final boss.
The scene where I reflected on the illustration over and over again. The scene where the most cherished and beloved character, Ian Esteban, leaves the stage of an English novel.
My stomach churned at the intense déjà vu.
The tip of Elliot’s sword rushed at Ian’s heart as if it would split it in two.
At the same time, the description in the novel was vividly revived. Ian, who was stabbed in the chest, and the blood that bloomed red… Ian, who was about to die white with his subordinate’ sword.
“No way!”
When I came to my senses, my body was already running towards the training field.
“Saintess?!”
“Saintess Irene!”
Cries of astonishment were heard here and there, but it was already too late.
“Ugh!”
Elliott, who was pushed away by the unexpected attack, fell to the ground in vain.
“Sa-Saintess?”
Elliot said in a blank voice.
But it didn’t reach my ears. I was speechless because of the hard yet warm feeling I felt under my palm.
‘……What, what.’
Why am I sitting with Ian Esteban under my legs?
And why are the pectoral muscles of an adult man wriggling under my palm?
What happened.
Why am I sitting with Ian Esteban under my legs?
And why are the pectoral muscles of an adult man wriggling under my palm?
“Madam.”
Ian, who was crushed by me and fell on the floor, looked up at me and said. in a voice that only I can hear.
“……Are you crazy?”