Ch.4241. Party Members (5)

# 41. Party Members (5)

In the training grounds, Riel spoke to her as she sliced through the air with her ice sword.

“We’re already third-years now. Time really flies.”

She too seemed surprised by the fact that, like Riel, she had already become a third-year in middle school.

“It certainly does.”

“Don’t you think some of the new students are quite promising?”

“Indeed.”

Among them, she felt that the friend named Aelin was definitely someone who would achieve greatness.

“Eh? Who are you talking about!?”

Riel seemed to be misunderstanding something, but since it wasn’t particularly important, she let it slide.

While Riel was lost in all sorts of fantasies…

-Creeak!-

That new student she had been thinking about entered the training grounds.

The blonde girl bowed deeply to her at a 90-degree angle.

“Hello, you’re Senior Diana, right?”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

Aelin skipped unnecessary talk and got straight to the point.

“Please spar with me.”

She accepted the proposal and sparred with Aelin.

Though there was quite a skill gap between them, Aelin didn’t give up until she was on the verge of collapse.

As a result, she sustained injuries for the first time in a match against a peer.

That fact, and Aelin herself, gave her a fresh shock.

She viewed that shock positively and wanted to continue her relationship with Aelin.

Both as Diana attending the academy and as the Imperial Princess.

And that feeling was expressed in a single sentence.

“Would you like to join my party?”

Thus, Aelin joined her party, which also influenced his recruitment into the party.

When she first applied to Albert’s party, it was partly because she was curious about him, but Aelin’s influence played a role too.

Even before she met Albert, Aelin had told her what kind of person he was.

Someone unnecessarily knowledgeable who didn’t think about himself but worried a lot about others.

The day before the exam, she heard that he had requested a duel with Aelin.

And after watching his first match, she had a thought.

‘What kind of person is he?’

He didn’t reveal any of his cards and achieved victory with just the basics.

Against an opponent with higher stats than himself, no less.

That fact shocked her even more than Aelin had.

She wondered who this person was to possess such skills and how far he could grow.

Of course, if that was all, she wouldn’t have brought him into her party.

But her thoughts changed when she saw him burst into tears looking at her.

She was intensely curious about why he shed such genuine tears.

So she proposed that he join her party.

In the end, though, she never heard the reason.

However, she came to know deep in her bones that he wasn’t someone to be doubted, but rather someone on her side.

‘Really… what an unusual pair of siblings.’

***

“How do they all manage to escape together like a single body without a single one lagging behind?”

As I voiced my complaints about this fact, Aelin chimed in from beside me.

“How could they possibly approach you when you look like that?”

Even though I had activated both [Mortal’s End] and [Obsidian Blade], I couldn’t help but think, ‘Isn’t this a bit excessive?’

“But your intimidation factor has really increased.”

“If you keep getting hit by this, you’ll develop a defense skill.”

“That’s… great news…”

We chatted as we searched for the remaining participants.

We had already eliminated nearly a hundred people, and it hadn’t even been an hour.

‘If we’re doing this much, she must be doing even more.’

She would be doing more, not less.

Plus, her skills were quite notorious, so people would be even more terrified of her than of us.

“I don’t see anyone. Let’s go join up.”

As we were about to head in the direction she had indicated…

-Bang!-

A bullet flew directly toward my head.

I deflected the bullet with my sword and looked in the direction it had come from.

It was faint, but I could see it.

‘A sniper rifle.’

And I could still see Ive watching us from atop a large tree.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“You stay here.”

I ran at full speed toward where Ive was.

With liberal use of [Swift], the distance that had seemed far was closed in an instant.

Of course, Ive wasn’t just sitting there watching.

-Bang! Ta-tang! Bang!-

Ive demonstrated remarkable marksmanship, accurately aiming at me as I moved.

However, those attacks didn’t work on me, and I advanced while deflecting the incoming bullets head-on.

As a result, I quickly reached the tree she had climbed.

‘I can’t climb up.’

But that wasn’t really a problem.

I summoned a massive greatsword, just like before.

With it, I struck the tree where Ive was perched with tremendous force.

-Crash!!!-

The tree shook violently, and Ive lost her balance and fell.

‘Uh… should I catch her?’

It wouldn’t matter if I didn’t, but I thought it would be better if I did.

So I caught her as she fell from the tree.

“Your posture is a bit off.”

Ive, now in what’s commonly called a princess carry, stared at me blankly with a reddened face.

I wanted to end this incredibly awkward situation quickly.

“Shall I put you down?”

Ive still said nothing, and I was about to set her down on the ground.

However, a familiar voice from in front of me made my body freeze.

“What are you doing?”

That cold voice that made even my body freeze—I hurriedly put Ive down and said:

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“What kind?”

“This friend was originally up in the tree, you see?”

“And?”

Her sudden informal speech made me both slightly happy and nervous.

“I hit the tree hard, and she fell.”

“So you caught her?”

“Yes, that’s what happened…”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re lying. I’ll believe you.”

I felt a twinge of disappointment at her return to formal speech as I bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Thank you.”

She smiled as if finding it absurd and looked at Ive.

“Why do you keep staring like that?”

Ive had been staring intently at me the whole time.

And still with a flushed face.

‘Was she always like this?’

She didn’t seem like someone who was this shy, but maybe that was just my impression.

‘Did she change with age?’

While I was pondering this question, she spoke to Ive.

“Congratulations on passing the first round.”

Hearing those words, Ive finally seemed to come to her senses.

I asked her:

“First round? Is there a second round?”

“There might be.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a secret.”

Then she asked me:

“How many did you catch?”

“95, not counting her.”

“Then the numbers match perfectly. Only one person passed the first time.”

It seemed she had taken out 204 people by herself.

That was certainly an overwhelming achievement.

The fact that detection was possible in the area where [Ruthless Cold] was activated seemed to have played a significant role.

“Let’s end today’s survival test here.”

Only after hearing those words did I deactivate my unique skills.

Suddenly, all the accumulated fatigue hit me at once.

We quickly left the set.

“We’re doing this for ten days?”

She answered cheerfully:

“Yes.”

“Really? Continuously except for weekends?”

She still answered cheerfully:

“Yes.”

“Haa… haa…”

“Let’s do our best.”

I reluctantly nodded.

She asked Ive, who was standing there blankly:

“May I ask your name?”

“Ive, it’s Ive.”

“Ive, we probably won’t hold a second test, so you can consider yourself almost accepted.”

“Thank you.”

With those final words, Ive left.

Watching her retreating figure, I asked Aelin:

“Was she always like that?”

“I don’t know, we’re not close.”

I was somewhat taken aback by how different her personality was from what I remembered.

***

‘What’s up with her?’

I looked at the person who had been staring in this direction for a while.

When I looked back, Ive immediately turned her head to look elsewhere.

Watching this, Chris spoke in a somewhat serious voice:

“What’s this? Are you really planning to build a harem?”

“No, I’m not!”

“Then what’s that about? Did something happen?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Trying to dodge the question makes it even more suspicious, you know?”

I didn’t want to continue this useless conversation, so I quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, aren’t you preparing?”

“Preparing? Oh, for the survival test?”

I nodded.

“I don’t think preparation will turn a fail into a pass.”

“You seem pretty confident for someone saying that.”

“Do I? But did anyone pass the first survival test?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

It was a somewhat unexpected question.

“One person.”

“Really? That’s good.”

“Aren’t you going to ask who it is?”

“Would you tell me if I asked?”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then what’s the point?”

I asked Raicle, who was expressionlessly staring at Gloria:

“Why didn’t you participate?”

“Who knows.”

He was still just staring at Gloria, and we sighed at his unwavering behavior.

“So when are you going to confess?”

“Yeah, I wish he’d hurry up and do it.”

“Seriously.”

As Chris and I teased him, Raicle looked at us with a fierce gaze like a wolf that had spotted its prey.

Chris scratched his head and avoided that gaze, while I stood up and said:

“I’m going to today’s survival test.”