episode_0104

“My name is Ethel! It is the next successor to Summer Window. Let’s have a showdown with Gilbert, the next successor to the Winter Sword!”

Gilbert sighed as he looked at a kid using a pointer in front of him.

Although it was his first time meeting him in this world, Gilbert knew very well the little boy who stretched out his fingers with such vigor.

The next successor who followed the teacher who saved him fiercely and studied Summer Spear, one of the martial arts techniques of the Four Worlds, which was the teacher’s everything.

Ethel Levis.

He was a named person with whom a rivalry naturally formed when he became Brianna’s immediate disciple and learned the Winter Sword.

Despite her appearance, she was a real person with a natural talent for spears. Even Gilbert had great difficulty dealing with her when he first played Tactical Combat.

She had a stronger foundation than any other character and was excellent at dealing with variables, so it was impossible to beat Ethel with any trick.

You could only beat her by building up your skills, and you could truly gauge your tactical combat skills by whether or not you could beat her.

However, there were quite different opinions among users, and the reason could be seen just by looking at her.

It seemed like he would be quite popular because he had short red hair, big eyes, a slim jawline, and hot-blooded attributes, but one drawback offset all of that.

Ethel’s small height, which did not even reach Gilbert’s chest, and her youthful appearance made Ethel into a hot-blooded child, and she was in the spotlight only to users with specific tastes.

It was a character design that was bound to be less popular than Seraphina, who is full of charisma, Brianna, who looks cold but is warm on the inside, and Lily, whose heart feels magnificent just by looking at her.

Meanwhile, from Gilbert’s perspective, Ethel’s likes and dislikes were closer to the favorable side. The fact that he was a hot-blooded kid was quite interesting, and when he was recruited as a colleague, he performed better than expected, so he was a character you couldn’t dislike.

However, the only thing I didn’t like was that Ethel also had an open romantic route.

The fact that there is a love route in Tactical Combat means that you can get an achievement when you clear all the love routes related to that character.

Gilbert, who was focused on clearing the achievement at the time, did not even think about Ethel’s appearance and attacked the romance route with all his might.

And herein lies the problem. First of all, since Tactical Combat was an adult-rated game, the love route was quite sensational.

I don’t know if it was the production company’s intention, but Ethel’s love route in particular was particularly provocative, but Gilbert, who had his eyes wide open, paid no mind to that.

In the end, after spending time and effort to clear all of Ethel’s love routes and achieve the achievement, Gilbert came back to his senses and had to live in a sense of self-destruction for a while as he saw Ethel clinging to him.

In particular, every time I saw Ethel looking at me with a sticky gaze, the feeling of self-destruction got worse.

However, Gilbert, who did not stop playing the game, somehow finished the episode in which he cleared Ethel’s love route, and then proceeded with the game, deliberately avoiding scenarios involving Ethel for a while.

No matter how much it was a game and an adult setting, taking Ethel’s dating route was no different from admitting that one was a lolicon.

Since Tactical Combat was a package game, there was no possibility that anyone would recognize it, but the problem was that Gilbert himself kept remembering that fact.

As time passed and I focused on clearing other achievements, I forgot about that fact…

Gilbert came out of his thoughts and quietly looked at Ethel, who was still rambling on about something.

That would never happen in this world, but as I was looking at her, I was reminded of Ethel’s love route.

Gilbert looked at Ethel, who was talking non-stop as if she was out of breath, and searched through the pockets in her arms. I found a few honey jellies in my pocket that I had been carrying with me to replenish the extremely lost energy after training.

After taking out all the honey jelly, he carefully held Ethel’s hand, which still had her fingers straight, and placed the honey jelly on it.

“It’s honey jelly. Eat.”

“Huh..? that… . thank you… ?”

Ethel, who was in the middle of explaining why this match had to be held, forgot what she had said and thanked her opponent for a sudden gift.

Although he was not the Marshal of Cheolcheonji, he was looked upon negatively as the next successor to the Winter Sword that had broken the Master’s Summer Spear, but seeing him hand over such delicious food did not seem to be a bad person.

Gilbert smiled bitterly as he watched Ethel become quiet as soon as he gave her something to eat.

This was no different from the setting of Tactical Combat.

Ethel, who was an orphan, lived a starving life wandering the streets until she met her teacher Diara, so she had a great attachment to eating. So the best gift to increase her likeability was to give her delicious food, especially sweet food.

That thought vaguely occurred to me, so I gave him some honey jelly, but seeing him quickly forget it as soon as he received it, it seemed to be no different in real life.

Gilbert poured the honey jelly into her mouth at once and gently stroked Ethel’s mumbling head.

“Ah…?”

Gilbert came to his senses for a moment upon hearing Ethel’s puzzled voice.

Gilbert let go of his hand stroking her hair and hurriedly left, ignoring Ethel’s wide-eyed gaze.

It was an added bonus that he was embarrassed that the skinship he frequently used when pursuing her dating route came out without his knowledge.

Ethel, who suddenly received a bunch of honey jelly as a gift and had her head stroked, stared blankly for a moment at Gilbert, who was leaving in a hurry, then blushed and screamed.

“You rude bastard for treating me like a child!”

Anger exploded at Gilbert, who dared to touch the head of a mature lady he saw for the first time (this is Ethel’s personal opinion) without permission.

I am grateful for the delicious snack, but isn’t eating and patting the head something that only children do?

It was absolutely not something he would do to an adult woman who had grown up well like him (this is also Ethel’s personal opinion).

Still, what was the reason for doing this?

After thinking for a moment, Ethel’s expression crumpled.

It was clear that this was probably a metaphorical expression, since one would not have thought that she was a child when looking at her perfect appearance. And considering her actions just a moment ago, it was not difficult to figure out the meaning of that metaphorical expression.

“Are you ignoring my skills… because they are childlike?”

That was all that Gilbert’s sudden action meant. There was no other way to explain why he would give delicious honey jelly and pat his head to someone he had never met before.

Ethel trembled as she had no way to express the humiliation and anger welling up in her heart. Since I became Diara’s disciple, I have never been ignored like this, but it happened today.

When she saw the honey jelly in her hand, the image of Gilbert came to her mind, she shuddered, and raised her hand as if she were about to throw it to the ground. Thinking they were destined rivals, he applied for a sparring match, but was met with contempt and disregard.

What was the point of eating jelly given to me by such a senseless, uncultured man?

Ethel gritted her teeth and slammed her hand down.

“….”

However, the honey jelly in Ethel’s hand did not roll around on the floor. No matter how angry I was, there was no problem with the food itself.

Ethel, who still can’t forget her days wandering the streets, could never throw away such healthy food. Even if I think of myself on a winter day when I almost died because I couldn’t eat this piece of jelly.

Instead of throwing the honey jelly away, she stuffed it into her pocket and glared at the side of the road where Gilbert had disappeared.

Food is not a sin, so he made a deep promise to himself that he would eliminate this humiliation by crushing Gilbert, who looked down on him, during the exchange meeting.

“Definitely.”

Ethel’s eyes began to burn as hot as the sun on a summer day.

***

Diara was a little nervous, unlike usual, in front of Brianna, whom she had not seen in a long time.

Until I met her, I was smiling leisurely and contentedly, remembering the sparring of the old days, but when I was reunited with Brianna for the first time in over ten years, my body stiffened.

I was casually thinking that I was just meeting up with an old friend, but my true feelings seemed to be different.

Diarra, who entered Demeia Academy two hours ago, immediately went to find Brianna.

It was rude to visit Brianna, a professor at the academy and a renowned swordsman, without an appointment, but Diara was the contemporary successor to the Summer Spear.

Although Diara lost to Brianna in a duel ten years ago, the title of successor to the Four Worlds’ Military Art was not an easy one.

In particular, since I was a special invitee to this exchange meeting, I was immediately guided to where Brianna was as soon as I gave my name.

However, the timing was not right, so Brianna was out of the office, and the servant who guided Diara left in a hurry, saying he would send a message to Brianna.

Diara, left alone in her office, burst into laughter without realizing it at the sight of the dreary, unadorned room.

Ten years had passed, but Brianna still seemed the same.

Although I didn’t have any deep interactions with her, I was confident that I knew her better than anyone else.

Wasn’t the exchange between warriors always a sparring match?

Da-ryeon, who risked everything that day, taught her a lot about her and at the same time made them close friends.

Even at the moment of breaking up, we promised to compete again, so it seems that Diara wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if I remember.

Diara suddenly wondered if she would remember the promise she made that day.

It was highly likely that the reunion, which was expected to take place soon, had been forgotten as it had been delayed so much due to Diara’s reaping of Eder.

Of course, if her personality was still the same, that couldn’t have been the case.

The Brianna Diara knew was a born swordsman and a warrior who sought strength. I had promised a rematch with the opponent I was so satisfied with, but there was no way I had forgotten it.

After putting an end to her thoughts like that, Diara began to talk about fame in order to shake off her idle thoughts.

How long has it been since then?

A familiar presence was detected by Diara’s sharp energy.

He slowly awoke from his subdued consciousness and looked at the door of the office with half-opened eyes.

-Kkiik

The door to the office opened, and Brianna, who had not changed at all since they broke up, appeared.

As Diara looked at that, she too went back to the day they broke up and smiled so brightly that her teeth were visible.

“I came to decide who will succeed the Winter Sword.”

As I spoke the words I first said to her ten years ago.