Ch.96Chapter 96. Of All Things (5)

Whoosh—

A moderately warm, humid breeze blew in.

It wasn’t quite the season to be hot yet, but the O’Neil Kingdom was located south of the Crescen Empire, so the heat arrived earlier.

Tap—

Along with the breeze, a knight with flowing golden hair leapt forward.

Simultaneously, a large wall appeared in front of the blonde knight.

An ice wall that looked refreshingly cool just by looking at it.

Whoosh—

As the blonde knight was blocked by the ice wall and landed beside it, the wind blew again.

The renewed breeze heightened the tension between the two people.

‘Emily is fast too…’

Cynthia swallowed as she watched the impromptu duel that had suddenly begun.

A duel between Elaine and Emily.

The reason the two were suddenly dueling was entirely thanks to Elaine.

Elaine, who had come to the O’Neil Kingdom’s Knights Order, was much more excited than usual.

And for good reason.

For Elaine, who dreamed of becoming a knight and was destined to be one, visiting the Knights Order was truly the best opportunity.

And not just the Imperial Knights, but a foreign country’s Knights Order.

For Elaine, it was truly an unforgettable opportunity and experience.

Elaine was amazed by everything the Knights Order did.

What really fired Elaine up was one of the training exercises the O’Neil Kingdom knights were doing.

Training to counter magic.

The O’Neil Kingdom knights were deliberately practicing dueling with mages at a distance.

They said knights needed to know how to fight even when separated from mages.

Seeing this, Elaine looked at Emily with sparkling eyes.

That’s how the unexpected duel between Emily and Elaine began.

Of course, it didn’t start just because the two of them agreed.

Both Professor Amillion and Eli, their guide for this O’Neil Kingdom tour, had also consented.

Ryuyeong had also mentioned being curious about who would win in a fight between two of the six great families.

‘Neither of them is from a prestigious family for nothing.’

Cynthia gulped as she looked back and forth between Emily and Elaine.

A duel between members of the six great families was probably a sight that could never be seen outside the Academy.

“Emily is better than I expected?”

“Yeah. She’s blocking Elaine from approaching really well.”

So far, it was clearly demonstrating how disadvantaged a knight was when fighting a mage at a distance.

Elaine was trying to approach Emily somehow, but was thoroughly blocked.

In close combat, Elaine would have an overwhelming advantage.

“Emily has gotten much stronger recently.”

With Ryuyeong’s words, this time Emily moved first.

Emily, who was always introverted and rarely took initiative in anything.

That Emily began attacking Elaine first.

Mana quickly gathered around Emily, and soon a cold air spread like fog.

“Wow, wow.”

Cynthia couldn’t help but admire Emily’s magic.

She knew Emily was smart, but she didn’t know she could use magic this quickly and precisely.

As the cold air that could be felt even from a distance spread toward Elaine, she desperately jumped upward.

Airborne, Elaine pointed her sword toward the ground and then swung it widely as she descended.

Whoosh—

As Elaine’s white sword, wrapped in mana, cut through the air, a strong wind arose and blew away the cold air that had been spreading around where she landed.

It was a good decision in a difficult situation, but only a temporary solution.

The cold air that had been blown away by the wind soon began creeping back toward Elaine.

Just as Elaine was inevitably preparing to leap again—

“Shall we call it quits now?”

“Huh?”

Ryuyeong intervened.

As soon as Ryuyeong’s voice was heard, Emily quickly withdrew the cold air.

Elaine, who had been about to jump with a tense expression, also relaxed her body.

Though her expression remained tense.

“Long-range mages are really overpowered. Hmm.”

“…Thank you for the match.”

Elaine, barely listening to Ryuyeong’s words, bowed her head to Emily.

Emily awkwardly bowed back and walked forward.

‘They’re both amazing.’

Cynthia suddenly realized why they were from the Sinclair and Phrysis families respectively.

Emily, who thoroughly blocked Elaine’s quick movements.

Elaine, who showed the best judgment despite being at a disadvantage, though she couldn’t break through Emily’s cold air.

It was a duel that made it clear why the six great families were the six great families.

‘If it were me…’

Cynthia imagined.

What she would do if she were in Emily’s position, facing Elaine.

Or conversely, what she would do if she were in Elaine’s position against Emily.

“Well then, let’s go on the tour now. The professor will join us too.”

“Huh? Tour?”

“Yeah. I heard we’re going on a tour with our guide knight this afternoon. Didn’t everyone hear about it?”

“…I haven’t properly explained yet. This afternoon, we’re planning to visit an area where the Knights Order often goes to train.”

Professor Amillion spoke about today’s schedule a beat later than Ryuyeong.

**

“Lord Ryu.”

“Yes?”

“About that situation earlier.”

Elaine was sticking close to Ryuyeong, deeply pondering something.

The duel with Emily earlier.

Honestly, Elaine had thought it would be natural to break through Emily’s defense and approach her.

But the result was not what she expected.

Far from breaking through Emily’s defense, it wasn’t even easy to respond to Emily’s attacks coming from a distance.

Especially attacks like earlier that came in gaseous form rather than a clear shape.

“That situation?”

“When Emily was emitting cold air.”

“Ah, that. It was definitely an innovative attack. I wondered if such magic even existed.”

“That, that! It’s something I came up with while researching! Hehehe.”

Emily, who had been listening to the conversation from behind, suddenly joined in.

Elaine flinched when Emily joined the conversation but continued speaking.

“If faced with such a formless attack, how would you deal with it, Lord Ryu?”

“Um…”

Ryuyeong hesitated at Elaine’s question, not answering immediately.

This question seemed to interest not only Elaine but Emily as well.

Emily was also glancing at Ryuyeong, focusing on what he would say.

“But would it have been dangerous if you got hit by that?”

“Yes! It’s a method I used when researching meat freshness! If you had been in contact with the cold air for just 3 seconds, you would have started freezing from the outside in.”

“I-I see.”

Elaine’s expression grew even more furrowed at Emily’s explanation.

It was a much trickier magic than ice walls or flying projectiles.

If it were magic that targeted specific objects to freeze, it would be easier to read the mana and avoid it.

“Hmm, if it were me…”

Elaine thought there was no other option in that situation but to jump upward.

It was only because Emily’s cold air advanced very slowly that she even had time to think about jumping.

If the cold air had moved faster, even Elaine wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.

“I’d blow it away in reverse? With wind? When Elaine swung her sword earlier, it flew away in the wind.”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

Elaine nodded, agreeing with Ryuyeong’s words.

If she had intended to blow away the cold air from the beginning, it might have been possible.

“And in that interval, I’d rush at Emily.”

“I see.”

“Well, but would that actually happen? Emily’s magic was unusual this time.”

Emily quickly chimed in at Ryuyeong’s words.

“That’s right! And actually, if it’s not cold air, most attacks that are gasified like this are terribly inefficient. Think about it. Gasified fire would cover a wide area, but the heat would inevitably decrease. Besides that…”

“Oh, looks like we’re here.”

Just as Emily’s explanation was about to get longer, Ryuyeong spoke up.

Elaine silently conveyed her gratitude to Ryuyeong.

“Elaine, if something like that happens in a real battle, just run to me. I’ll take care of it.”

“…Uh…”

This wasn’t the answer she had expected at all.

While Elaine was wondering how to respond to Ryuyeong’s unexpected words, Ryuyeong quickly disappeared.

‘Run to me, he says…’

Elaine felt a strange feeling for some reason.

Ryu, no, Lord Ryu seemed to have said it without much thought.

Thump—

Her heart raced for no reason.

She hadn’t realized that “run to me, I’ll take care of it” could be such a heart-fluttering statement.

‘Why?’

As Elaine pondered why her heart was racing, another voice was heard from beside her.

“This is where our Knights Order often comes to train.”

Ryuyeong was already striding ahead alone.

Knight Elizar spoke with a slightly dejected voice, unlike before.

Elaine reflexively looked around.

It seemed true that the Knights Order often came here to train, as Knight Elizar said.

The wide open space showed traces of combat everywhere.

There were even bloodstains nearby that hadn’t been washed away yet.

‘So they train hard enough to spill blood even during practice.’

“Lord Ryu! Let’s go together!”

After briefly looking around, Elaine quickly chased after Ryuyeong who had gone ahead.

Actually, besides Emily’s attack, there was a lot she wanted to ask Ryuyeong.

Starting with how he would respond in that situation, to effective ways to close the distance against mages, and so on.

‘Would Lord Ryu have used teleportation magic?’

As Elaine followed Ryuyeong while thinking about him, she suddenly paused.

‘What’s this?’

She felt a chill, as if someone was watching her.

But there was no one in the direction where she felt the gaze.

There wasn’t even a structure where someone could hide.

The surroundings were open plains without a single piece of cover.

‘Did I imagine it?’

Elaine tilted her head and continued walking.

By now, Lord Ryu had gone quite far ahead alone.

“I said let’s go together!”

Elaine started running.

Completely unaware that someone was watching her with a sinister smile.