chapter_0048

Chapter 47 : Elia’s Test

“Allen Jake!! Come forward!!!”

The brown-haired man with a fierce wildness, Guild Master Martin, called out to Allen in a booming voice.

At that call, Allen let out a trembling breath for the first time since the mercenary exam began and slowly started walking forward.

“Hu…?”

Indeed, the guild master of the mercenary guild with the title of the “Golden Badge Mercenary.”

A sense of overwhelming pressure from a different dimension shook Allen’s body.

“Allen, hang in there!”

“Don’t be too scared, just show your best and come back!”

Allen, who had somewhat shaken off his tension from hearing the small words of encouragement from Hans and Charles behind him, stood in front of Martin and drew his sword.

Srrrng

With a cold metallic sound, Allen’s sword was drawn.

The beautiful sword, finished perfectly from the tip of the blade to the hilt, caused Martin, who had been watching Allen, to smile with a grin, showing his teeth.

“Good sword. Though, I’m not sure if the one wielding it is worthy of such a sword.”

“At least, I don’t think I’ve fought any battles that were beneath this sword.”

“…Hah! You’ve got some guts, huh!”

Though his body still trembled slightly, Allen boldly answered while trying to ignore the shaking.

This trembling was not out of fear.

The emotion causing his body to shake was nothing but the competitive spirit toward a formidable opponent he had never faced before.

Most of all, this fight was not a life-or-death situation.

It was a safe sparring match, something he might never experience again with a powerful opponent, so Allen trembled because he was excited for it.

“Then come whenever you want, however you want!”

With that confident gesture of conceding the first strike, Allen didn’t hesitate and channeled his sword energy into the blade.

Fwaaat -!!

The opponent before him was an overwhelmingly powerful adversary that Allen could not defeat with his current strength.

Saving his best move was an unwise choice that didn’t even need to be considered.

So, as Allen channeled his sword energy, the mercenaries in the audience gasped in admiration.

“Crazy, that’s real sword energy!”

“To have such talent at that age…”

“Damn, I can barely even use sword energy…”

A mixture of admiration, surprise, jealousy, and maliciousness filled the air in the audience.

However, Allen, with no time to glance at the crowd, took a deep breath and, without hesitation, planted his feet.

“I’m coming!”

“No need to say it!”

Kaaang!!!

The clash of swords resounded with a clear metallic sound.

Allen bit his lip at the sight before him, and he tightened his grip on his sword, putting more strength into it.

“Ugh…!”

Before him, Martin faced the sword energy Allen had summoned.

There was undoubtedly a huge gap between sword energy and sword technique.

However, the fact that Martin blocked Allen’s sword energy with his sword technique indicated there was a gap even greater than just sword energy versus sword technique between them.

“Still… not yet…!!”

But, despite that, it was too precious an opportunity to give up and retreat.

Allen quickly swung his sword, pressing on with full effort, and Martin easily blocked it while shouting.

“Good! Come at me harder!!”

“…!”

Though he was already giving his all, how could Martin ask him to come at him harder?

Swallowing his dissatisfaction in silence, Allen moved with a nearly perfect form, trying to press Martin with all his might.

However, no matter how much he swung his sword, Martin’s defense remained impenetrable.

And in between those defenses, occasional counterattacks from Martin were rapid, deadly strikes that squeezed the life out of Allen.

Not long after, one of Martin’s strikes knocked Allen’s sword high into the air.

Thurrng

-!!!

Allen’s sword energy unraveled as his sword was knocked away, leaving his body wide open from head to toe.

Unquestionably, Martin’s next attack mercilessly struck at that opening.

Pwoosh- -!!!

“Cough?!

Allen was kicked in the side and rolled on the ground several times.

“Cough! Cough…!!”

He coughed up uncontrollably as his breath was obstructed, and Martin, seeing this, flicked his sword clean with a fierce grin.

“You’re definitely worth something. You may not be skilled enough yet, but that will be fixed with time…”

Martin said, then paused as if pondering something.

He tapped his sword on his shoulder, as though deciding something.

After a moment, Martin sheathed his sword and said decisively,

“Your talent is still lacking in skill, but once that part is filled, you’ll be good enough. So, Allen Jake, from now on, you are a Silver Badge Mercenary.”

This was the first declaration of acceptance for a mercenary other than those who had received the same badge after the mercenary exam had begun.

Those who received the same badge or failed the test looked at Allen with envious eyes, while other Silver and Gold Badge Mercenaries in the outer field gazed at him and Martin with surprise.

“Silver Badge? I thought he’d definitely get a Gold Badge since he can use sword energy…”

“Well, looking at it, his swordsmanship is probably just Silver Badge level. That’s about right.”

“That’s funny. Can you even use sword energy yourself?”

The mercenaries who knew how to use swordsmanship were all gold-tier mercenaries, so they had doubts, but the gold-tier mercenaries in the stands didn’t have much of a question compared to them.

This was because, as Martin had said, they knew that Allen’s skill hadn’t yet developed to the level of his talent.

It was clear that if he grew through real battles, he could quickly rise to the gold-tier mercenary level, but for now, silver-tier mercenaries were the right fit for Allen’s current skill level.

Of course, even without receiving the gold-tier rank, the fact that Allen had earned recognition from Martin in the mercenary test and received the silver-tier rank already proved his potential.

Naturally, since he was already a guaranteed-skilled mercenary, many gold-tier mercenaries who had been watching were preparing to recruit Allen, eagerly anticipating the benefits they would gain if they could recruit him into their party.

It was obvious that the profits they would gain from him would be endless.

Amid these greedy gazes, the name of the next test participant was called.

“Then next… Elia! Come forward!!”

Many mercenaries didn’t know her, but the strong ones in the crowd were already focused on her.

She stepped forward with a neutral expression, teaching the newcomers as she walked.

Even though this was a tense moment, she didn’t show any sign of trembling and confidently stood in front of everyone.

Allen, watching her bold demeanor, unconsciously swallowed his saliva.

“That person… She must be incredibly strong. She might even be stronger than me.”

“Really?” “She just looks… okay?”

At Allen’s words, Charles and Hans looked at Elia with surprised expressions.

However, the two tilted their heads as if they didn’t quite understand, but Allen could see it.

The calm aura she emitted, the presence that she intentionally concealed within her body, felt like a sign of something greater.

From the moment he saw Elia, Allen had thought of someone—none other than the platinum-tier mercenary, Stella.

Her presence was so striking that it instinctively reminded him of Stella. How could she not be strong with such an aura?

“…Well, the test is about to start, do you have anything you’d like to say, newcomer Elia?”

“Not really, but…”

And that intuition of Allen’s was proven correct.

The moment Elia responded to Martin’s question, it was confirmed.

“Well, if I have to say something… since it’s like this, I’ll give it my all.”

As soon as her words ended, Elia’s aura exploded.

The calm aura she had been hiding surged violently, swallowing everything around her, and along with that, Elia’s sword was covered with a swordsmanship so solid it could rival Allen’s… perhaps even Martin’s level.

Whoosh—

And everyone’s eyes grew wide at this series of events.

Naturally, Allen was no exception.

“What… is this level?”

The power and strength were beyond what he had imagined.

It was enough to not only break but crush Allen’s pride, which had been ahead of everyone up until now.

However, while those around him were stunned by the scene, Elia rushed toward Martin without sparing a single glance at anyone else.

And as Elia charged forward, Martin simply raised his sword with a weary smile.

“Can you go easy on me just a bit?”

The sword wrapped in swordsmanship that hadn’t been shown when facing Allen.