Chapter 104: Whip (2)

I regretted opening my mouth, feeling intimidated by the nine pairs of cold eyes silently watching me.

I had momentarily forgotten, due to the utterly inane conversation, that these bastards were the ones who had invaded the Academy, killed a knight, and kidnapped me.

Judging by the fact that I was still alive, I probably wouldn’t die immediately, but there was no need to needlessly provoke them.

They might think an intact body wasn’t necessary if they could just use me as a hostage.

“What did you just say?”

The man who seemed to be the leader of the group asked, pointing a sword emitting an ominous light at me.

Though slightly intimidated by his demeanor, completely opposite to his earlier moronic behavior, I quickly pulled myself together and said to him:

“If it sounded like an insult, I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just confused since I only regained consciousness a short while ago.”

The man glared at me silently for a while, then lowered his sword and turned his back on me.

As I inwardly sighed with relief and looked around, this place appeared to be a forest near the Academy.

Maybe we had moved far from the Academy through spatial magic, but there was no end to such speculations.

‘What’s the purpose of these people?’

At first, I thought they might be trying to get ransom money by taking me hostage, but it was hard to believe that individuals of this caliber would risk such danger due to lack of funds.

It didn’t seem likely that there was any political motive either, as there was no merit in kidnapping me that would justify turning the Academy and the royal family into enemies.

Then, could this be related to that swordsman who had invaded the Academy some time ago?

They did seem a bit too dim-witted to be that swordsman’s comrades, but you can’t judge people by brief impressions.

“What’s your purpose?”

Thinking I probably wouldn’t die immediately, I asked with nothing to lose. The man unexpectedly gave a good response.

“Curious about our purpose? Well, I see no reason not to tell you.”

What followed was a barrage of words so nonsensical and devoid of substance that I regretted asking such a useless question.

I thought Ian’s friction theory of Baldo was the worst, but I never imagined there could be a new low.

After the cacophony of words that made me want to gouge out my eardrums ended, the man cleared his throat once, put his hands on his hips, and asked with a smug expression:

“How about that, our grand ideal! No, you don’t need to say anything. Even a human like you must want to convert to an honorary demon sword after hearing such a splendid ideal!”

“This is the second time I’ve wanted to give up my hearing. If that’s a grand ideal, then mental institutions must be philosophers’ retreats.”

“Wh-what did you say…?!”

Incensed by my words, the men… no, the demon swords all drew their weapons and pointed them at me.

However, perhaps because I had heard those words earlier, I didn’t feel the same fear as before, even with weapons pointed at me.

After all, while people might fear madmen or ruffians, no one fears those who lack intelligence.

I closed my eyes, just thinking I’d be cut down soon, but no matter how long I waited, I didn’t feel the cold sensation of my body being sliced.

Curious, I slowly opened my eyes to find them still pointing their weapons at me, glaring but unable to do anything.

“What’s going on? Aren’t you going to cut me?”

“You… What makes you so cocky? Do you think someone will come to save you in this situation?”

“Save me….”

In fairy tales and stories, it’s common for princesses or noble ladies to be kidnapped by dragons or demon kings.

The hero usually defeats evil and rescues the princess after a long adventure, but reality isn’t so accommodating.

For instance, if a village girl were kidnapped by bandits, it’s painfully obvious she would suffer all sorts of indignities that very day, let alone in a few days.

Rescuing a hostage in the nick of time only happens in the wishful thinking of fairy tales and stories.

In my case, the chances of the Academy coming to rescue me before these guys cut off my head were so slim they might as well be non-existent.

But why, in this situation, did I keep thinking of that cold-hearted man who even rejected going to the ball together?

Though he was stupid and just as insane as these demon swords, the face of that occasionally reliable man kept flickering in my mind.

Of course, there was no evidence he’d come to save me. At this hour, he was more likely to be doing meaningless Baldo practice at the training grounds. I knew that.

But I couldn’t shake the thought that he would come, so I took a deep breath and shouted his name at the top of my lungs.

“Ian!!!”

The forest fell silent for a while after my voice, so loud I wondered how I managed it, echoed throughout.

But it didn’t last long. Someone started snickering, and soon sneers began to bloom on the faces of the demon swords.

“I wondered what nonsense you were spouting, but you’re relying on a man even in this situation!”

“How fitting for a sword bitch who can only depend on demon swords!”

“Why don’t you try calling once more! See if that bastard comes or not!”

Their weapons lowered as they seemed to have vented their frustrations by mocking me, leaving only vulgar laughter.

As I kept my head down, trying to ignore the grating sneers in my ears, a sound completely different from the laughter began to reach my ears.

“Hey, what’s that sound?”

When one demon sword said that, the others also turned their ears toward the direction of the sound.

Clop clop, clop clop.

As the sound of a horse galloping with all its might reached our ears, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in this gloomy situation, along with the thought, ‘Could it be?’

If it was a ray of light illuminating this bleak situation for me, it must have been a darkness threatening to snatch away their future for them, as the demon sword Agaia shouted to her comrades.

“Everyone, raise your weapons! He’s coming!”

As the demon swords raised their weapons and aimed at the rustling forest upon hearing those words, a horse with a refreshing blue mane burst through the underbrush.

“Neigh!!!”

“A horse?! Where’s the rider…!”

Realizing this was a feint when they saw Silence without a rider, the demon swords quickly turned their heads, but it was already too late.

Clang, as the now-familiar crisp friction sound rang out, two demon swords lingering around me turned back into swords and fell to the ground.

“Jessica!!!”

Tears nearly spilled from my eyes seeing him call my name with an unusually serious expression.

“I-Ian…!!”

As I called out his name in return, he ran past me and continued behind me.

“…Ian?”

At first, I thought he might be trying to untie the ropes, but I wasn’t even tied up. There was no reason to go past me.

As his face disappeared from view, a familiar anxiety suddenly gripped my body. That anxiety became reality before my eyes as the tree I was against started to shake more and more.

“Wait, what the hell are you trying to do…!”

“Baldo…!”

As he shouted that, the tree trunk began to shake even more violently, like a willow caught in a storm, before being uprooted entirely.

Then he swung the tree with me still against it toward the confused enemies.

“Deep-rooted Baldo!!!”

“Ah, aah…! You crazy bastard!!!”

“Ian!!!”

Jessica’s voice calling me revealed her location, but it also created a problem.

Such a loud shout meant the enemy’s attention was now drawn to Jessica.

If I rushed in thoughtlessly, Jessica could get hurt, so I first sent Silence to divert the enemy’s attention.

Though I was a bit anxious about whether this improvised plan would work, it succeeded brilliantly. However, one big problem still remained.

[The technique just activated is not a Baldo, so skill creation has failed.]

The problem was none other than this skill window, which refused to accept its own ignorance and insisted on being stubborn.

What truly nonsensical words.

A wooden sword is a sword, so the raw material of a wooden sword, wood, can be considered a sword in the broader sense. Therefore, this technique of drawing a tree from the ground should be considered a Baldo. Why couldn’t it recognize that?

I wanted to speak to Jessica, who must have understood my Baldo after seeing it so many times, but….

“Ugh……”

Jessica, who had been hanging from the tree, seemed to have fainted because I swung the tree too hard.

To think she’d faint without even being able to share her thoughts on our first joint Baldo….

Even if she was a warrior, Jessica was a delicate noble lady with curled hair who hadn’t learned Baldo techniques, so it couldn’t be helped.

“Silence.”

I placed Jessica, who had been tied to the tree, onto Silence’s back. Silence had somehow stopped its rampage and returned to my side. Without looking back, Silence galloped away, pushing through the undergrowth.

“Do you think we’ll let you escape!!”

Saying that, a familiar exploding spear targeted Silence’s back, but I wasn’t about to stand by and watch.

‘Though the physical strength is at the level of a Swordmaster…’

Unfortunately, that skill fell far short of reaching the realm of a Swordmaster.

As I deflected the spear advancing with an ominous boom and sliced through the bastard’s waist, he collapsed to the ground, split into upper and lower halves, without even having time to react.

“Now then… how many blades are left?”