Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72. Finding Your Center
“You said you’d buy me time!”
Adellian shouted at Maxim while brandishing her sword.
“I told you to look inside, not to sit and meditate, you know?”
At Maxim’s reply, Adellian scrunched up her face and let out an incredulous ‘Ha?’.
Seeing this, Maxim drew a playful smile towards Adellian.
“Do you think your head will work just by staying still? You have to use your body for it to work. Dealing with one or two of them isn’t that hard, is it?”
Adellian let out a hollow laugh instead of an answer. She moved quickly, keeping her eyes on the enemies scattering in all directions.
“Forget the 5th Prince, aim for the wench!”
The one who seemed to be the leader of the lackeys pointed at Adellian and shouted.
Adellian glared at him. She was one who had often heard the word wench. So she used to brush it off as nothing. But for some reason, the word ‘wench’ was particularly grating today.
‘A woman with a sword? Do you know how heavy a sword is?’
‘You have to make your debutante next year, so conduct yourself properly.’
‘You don’t need to worry about it. So stop with that nonsense about swords and knights. It’s not a woman’s job.’
Adellian recalled the words she had heard at home.
Before her older brother, Isaac von Rosenberg, collapsed, she used to just brush them off, thinking it was just how things were. But after Isaac collapsed, she couldn’t just let the same words slide.
She was the only bloodline left to continue the family. Yet people did not consider Adellian the successor. They were contemplating whether to adopt a son or not. Even when she said she would not marry, their gazes didn’t change. That was why Adellian had decided to become a knight to prove herself.
“What’s wrong with me!”
Her eyes filled with rage, Adellian swung her sword at the charging men. Her Mana Circle shone, preparing to receive the power of Aquoris, the God of Water.
‘Don’t look at the enemy, look inside.’
The moment she twisted her body to create a raging spray of water, Adellian recalled Maxim’s words.
“The sword of Poinus.”
She looked straight at the swordsmanship she was using so naturally.
“It’s different.”
As Maxim said, the sword she was using was excessively flashy compared to the sword of Poinus.
Adellian pondered when she had started using such a sword.
‘The last tournament of the first semester?’
The exact day it started didn’t come to mind. But she remembered the day she was convinced that the sword she was using now was her own. It was the day of the grade-level martial arts tournament that had concluded the first semester of her first year.
Until the martial arts tournament, Adellian had been a student ignored by others.
‘A kid strong only in theory.’, ‘A moron who can’t even handle a sword properly because she has no strength.’, ‘Zero points in practical skills.’
These were the phrases that described Adellian. She couldn’t deny them either. Although she never missed first place in theory classes, she always lagged behind in practical skills that involved handling weapons.
On days when there was practice sparring, Adellian had to stay alone in a corner of the training ground. It was because no one would be her opponent.
‘I’d be better off practicing alone than with you.’, ‘Why don’t you just give up?’, ‘Look into administration, not knighthood. Don’t cling to something you can’t achieve. You’re a hindrance to others.’
The students said hurtful things to Adellian without hesitation. So she gritted her teeth. She cut down on sleep and devoted herself to personal training to handle the sword properly. But subduing others with swordsmanship remained a distant goal.
Klang!
Adellian parried an enemy’s sword that came in deep, aiming for her face. A few more exchanges followed.
Kgeugeuk.
Sword locked against sword, they entered a contest of strength.
“For a woman, you’re not bad.”
The man let out a sly smile and put all his strength into both hands. His intention was to overpower Adellian’s sword with force and make her submit. She clenched her jaw tightly and looked straight at her opponent.
‘For a woman, you’re not bad.’
A month before the martial arts tournament, that was the phrase Adellian had heard the most. Through repeated training, her strength had increased and her skills had improved, but she was only at a level where she wasn't bad in a spar; she couldn’t escape being an underachiever. It was because the other students were already accustomed to the sword of Poinus, while Adellian was just in the process of adapting.
Swish.
A sword path that flickered like a gnat, Adellian's feet moving diagonally, a fully twisted hand movement.
A thin cut appeared on the neck of the man fighting Adellian, and a drop of blood trickled out.
“Ah! You’re so damn fast. You damned bitch.”
Adellian’s eyes widened as she spun her body around. A whip of water bloomed from her sword. The water foam turned into sharp blades, trying to tear the opponent apart. But the man who had spewed curses was no ordinary foe either.
Pang!
A large shield of water unfolded from the man’s sword.
Adellian’s wildly moving whip was blocked by the opponent’s shield and turned into foam.
At that moment.
Kooong.
Adellian blocked the opponent’s thrust. But she couldn’t do anything about the impact. Her body tumbled across the ground.
‘It’s obvious. And slow. You’d be a fool not to win.’
Covered in dust, Adellian spat out blood. She looked at the vomit splattered on the ground and recalled the past. It was similar back then. She had blocked the opponent’s thrust and tumbled to the ground. The opponent had looked down on Adellian with a sneer.
“Right, that’s why I looked for it.”
To not be obvious. Because she couldn’t win duels with the sword everyone at school learned.
So Adellian had searched for an unorthodox sword. A sword that would make her stand out at school, one that would prevent others from ignoring her anymore, a sword that was not obvious.
She had come across the writings of a female knight in the library. It described in detail a sword full of variations. There were even illustrations, so she could try to follow them.
Thus, Adellian began to mix the sword of a nameless female knight with the sword of Poinus in her own way. And with that sword, she had won the grade-level martial arts tournament.
“Because it wasn’t obvious. Because it was different from what they were used to, it was hard to block.”
Adellian had considered herself acknowledged. So she made that sword her own. She believed that with a sword that contained variations, no one would look down on her. But this was a delusion. In a real battle where lives were on the line, it didn’t work at all. She had come face to face with her own utter worthlessness.
‘Gwanju sneered at me.’
It was such a miserable moment. Even though she wanted to deny it, to say it was the sword she had put her all into, that it was by no means clumsy, she couldn’t. Even now, she couldn’t land a single proper wound on a similarly matched opponent.
‘Empty it out and then re-establish the sword of Poinus.’
Adellian understood Maxim’s words, which she hadn't grasped before. She rotated her Mana Circle. The power of Aquoris that she had learned and used was out of sync with the results of the sword she had wielded until now. The degree was not so great that she hadn't noticed, but now she felt it clearly.
“Down.”
She planted the feet she had raised to move quickly on the ground. She moved the center of gravity she had placed on her shoulders to her lower abdomen.
“Are you giving up because you’re tired?”
The man who had been targeting Adellian sneered.
“Kneel and beg me to save you. If you do, I might spare you for that pretty face of yours.
What will you do?”
“You bastard.”
“What? Did this bitch get a potty mouth!”
The man swung his sword powerfully, as if to sweep the ground. A sharp skewer of water cut through the ground and headed for Adellian.
Adellian steadied her breathing. She relaxed her posture and stared at her opponent. The movement of the mana that had been raging around her instantly subsided.
Ping.
As Adellian’s sword moved smoothly in a straight line, the attack the enemy had launched simply disappeared.
“W-what?”
The man reacted as if bewildered. It was an attack that had used a considerable amount of mana, after all.
“I’m the wench you sneered at.”
Adellian said with an indifferent face.
Sensing the change in Adellian’s atmosphere, the man began to squeeze out all the power he could muster.
“I went easy on you because you’re a woman, but you’re getting cocky!”
The man’s Mana Circle glowed fiercely. Water burst from the sword he held like a flame.
Adellian watched the opponent’s sword with cold eyes.
‘A simple sword. A heavy but precise sword.’
She thought of the sword of Poinus and took a basic stance. The Mana Circle turned. And a new Mana Circle faintly shone.
Drip.
A drop of water falling from the tip of Adellian’s sword created a ripple of mana.
“Uwaaaaah!”
The man swung his sword. The sharp blade cut through the white foam, drawing a blue line as it aimed for Adellian’s neck.
Adellian calmly watched the attack coming at her from a comfortable stance.
“Wave Slash.”
Adellian’s sword drew a straight diagonal line. The huge wave the enemy was creating stopped moving.
Taeeng!
With a sharp sound, a crack appeared on the sword that had been aiming for her neck.
Thud.
The wave split, and the sword that had created it broke in two.
The enemy’s balance collapsed, and his posture crumbled.
Adellian did not miss this. She shifted her feet and readjusted her grip on the sword. Her sword moved perfectly horizontally. A line that was neither fast nor slow was drawn.
Swish.
A bright red line appeared on the neck of the guy who had been chattering about her being a wench. The guy stared at Adellian with surprised eyes and opened his mouth. But he couldn’t speak. Because his head was falling from his body.
***
Amazing. I hadn’t expected it, but I never thought she would actually pull it off.
I thought the best-case scenario would be her gaining enlightenment through this battle and struggling to move forward, but Adellian easily surpassed that.
‘She wasn’t the top student by luck, but because she was overflowing with talent.’
I like it very much. Her ears are sharp, her eyes are bright, and her mind is brilliant—a precious talent who will grow rapidly if I work her like a dog. I must earnestly persuade her and drag her along.
Klang!
I shattered another enemy’s sword. Now there were five left. A guy who looked like a Decurion had met his end at Adellian’s hands. The guy who looked like a Tricenarius still seemed to be around. That must be why they kept charging even though only five were left.
“Don’t you think it’s about time to give up after all this?”
I said, holding Dawn in a reverse grip.
The guys, keeping their distance from each other, looked back and forth between Hans and me.
“Are you only listening to him? Then again, I’m not your employer. Though I do hold the power of life and death over you.”
The guys who had sneered when I said this before the fight started were now just breathing heavily with their mouths shut.
“What are you all doing! It’s obvious he’s exhausted! Attack!”
Hans urged the remaining men. But they only exchanged glances with each other and did not move.
“You fucking bastards! I’ll tell that Jordi bitch everything! That you made a complete mess of things!”
“Hah, you’re so loud. What kind of conversation is this?”
Listening to him screaming his head off, my ears hurt so much that I couldn’t help but say something.
“That son of a bitch.”
“Yes, that’s right. That son of a bitch is talking. So stop talking and if you’re going to fight, come quickly. What? Scared?”
Hans ground his teeth and readjusted his grip on his sword. His Mana Circles began to rotate fanatically. One, two. Two distinct sky-blue circles. It seems he hadn’t been slacking off since coming to the academy.
“Die. You vermin-like bastard.”
Hans kicked off the ground and delivered a thrust of considerable speed.
Kooong!
Of course, it was blocked by Dawn.
“You didn’t get congratulated for reaching the 2nd Circle, did you?”
I whispered into Hans’s ear, who was right in front of me.
Hans turned his head and glared at me with bloodshot eyes. He turned his body and swung his sword. A sharp wind wrecked the spot where I had been standing.
“Congratulations on reaching the 2nd Circle. Even if you’re a moron, you achieved it, so you should hear it at least once. Right?”
“Shut up! You moron!”
“No need for a self-introduction. I already know everything.”
I rotated my Mana Heart. The Talisman of Murti also boasted a brilliant light.
“Thanks for all the trouble you’ve caused me until now.”
Dawn drew a deep, purplish-black shadow.