96
Accdella
“I hit you gently, so stop joking and get up.”
‘···Gently?’
Mr. Pahjong wondered for a moment whether he had misunderstood the meaning of ‘gently’.
No wonder, that bastard’s punch just now hurt more than anything Pah had ever been hit with in his life.
Even when Pah forgot to clean the armor of the knight he was serving, and the next day Saint got beaten up for stepping on the shit inside the armor, he couldn’t even throw a single punch at the man.
‘···How on earth?’
I didn’t understand.
If the other person had brought it up, I could understand.
The original knights were monsters.
But the bastard, without any aura, just used his pure fists to knock down each and every seed in the room.
The power contained in that huge fist was so great that Pah lost all strength and fell backwards after only one hit.
The bastard must have been a devil, because he came close to Pah even though his eyes were rolled back and drool was dripping from his mouth, and he insisted on hitting him once more.
When I opened my eyes again, it was over.
“Count to three. One.”
At the sound of that voice, Pah desperately moved his body, which had no strength left. His legs were weak and he was staggering, but he somehow managed to hold on.
“this.”
“Ahhhhhhh!!”
‘Didn’t you say you were going to count to three?’
I immediately had doubts about the guy who was grabbing me, but I didn’t say anything out loud.
The guy was a savage, so it was clear he didn’t know the three.
“Line up and get in a line.”
“···?”
Everyone raised their question marks, but when he raised his fist, they roughly lined up. In the meantime, one of the guys who was hit by the cold got kicked and rolled around on the ground.
The bastard screamed loudly, but no one came to help him.
“Now, the sons of the knights whose names are being called, come forward. Sir Gern of Byzant, Sir Saint of Blant, and Sir Ben of Carzan.”
‘···Why of all people!!’
Although Pah had been proud to serve the Knight Saint, he now wanted to vehemently deny him.
For some reason, I didn’t want to step forward toward that guy.
At that moment, he felt a sharp gaze. He turned his head to see the men around him glaring at him. It seemed as if they were asking, ‘Why aren’t you going out?’
‘They said that we should help each other! You unjust bastards!’
Pah jumped out with heavy feet.
There were two other seeds there.
Both of them had faces not much different from Pah’s.
One of them looked quite fine. Of course, his expression was sad, as if he had lost his home.
“How long has each of you been together?”
“It’s been three years!”
“Five years···.”
“···One month.”
Different answers came out for each person.
“It’s really pathetic considering it’s been five years.”
However, Pah’s brow furrowed at the bastard’s obvious swearing.
Of course, we all rushed at him and lost badly, but that was because we couldn’t use our swords.
The seed learned swordsmanship from the knight, not fist fighting with the thugs. If he had taken up swords, the result would have been different.
“I learned swordsmanship, not fist fighting like you. You should be thankful that swordsmanship is forbidden among the clans.”
The place where I was hit still hurt, but I couldn’t ignore the remark that disregarded swordsmanship.
“There’s always an excuse. Wouldn’t you fight each other if it were forbidden?”
Pah tilted his head at the bastard’s unexpected question.
‘No, fighting isn’t a necessity like a diet or anything···.’
However, I wondered if I had misunderstood the guy’s confident attitude, but the expressions on the faces of the people around me were not much different.
“See? In the end, it’s just an excuse. You know that even if you draw your sword, it’s useless. You can’t draw your sword.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you had drawn your sword, the outcome would have been different.”
“Then pull it out. Were you scared?”
At the bastard’s grumbling, Pah hesitated for a moment before drawing his sword.
“Hey, sword.”
At that moment, the guy reached out his hand to the man standing right next to him.
‘Idiot. There’s no way a knight-errant squire would lend me his sword…’
Pah kept his mouth shut at the sight of the man handing over the sword without saying a word.
Now that I think about it, the guy next to me was fine, without a single scratch on his face or body.
“Hey, five years.”
A guy who waves his sword peacefully.
Pah looked around, trying hard to suppress his hot emotions. The other seeds nodded. It was clear that they would take his side no matter what happened.
There was nothing to be hesitant about anymore.
It was time to show real swordsmanship to the guy who was relying only on his size.
After five years of training, Pah naturally displayed the swordsmanship of Saint Kyung.
Chae-Ang-!
“···Ugh!”
The guy seemed flustered by Pah’s quick swordplay and swung his sword awkwardly.
‘Huh, that idiot who only believes in strength and acts like a fool. Swordsmanship isn’t all about strength.’
The ensuing battle.
However, the guy, who was quite capable, moved backwards while floundering around and somehow blocking the attack.
Finally, just before putting the sword to the bastard’s neck.
thud!
The sword he extended as he floundered struck Pah’s chest lightly. Even if it was a swordsmanship duel, since it was done by people, the results could not always be proportional to skill.
Just like now, when the sword he extended while struggling struck Pah’s chest.
‘Damn, I’m lucky.’
Pah clenched his teeth and stepped back.
“Ha… haha! Even if you call it a knight’s swordsmanship, it’s nothing special.”
The guy laughed in a voice full of embarrassment.
Although he was booed by those around him, he seemed indifferent and instead took a stance.
“I was just lucky. If I did it again, it would be different.”
Pah said, gritting his teeth.
“Let’s try again!”
The guy shouted in a strange manner, as if he really thought he had won because he had done well.
Pah quickly ran towards him.
The corners of his mouth seemed to be turned up, which was annoying, but upon closer inspection, he was gentle.
Taang-!
Another sword I got by luck.
“Damn! This guy is so lucky!”
Pah clenched his teeth in anger.
“Hmm. Then again.”
The momentum in the guy’s voice had strangely changed, but Pah, who was extremely excited, didn’t notice.
‘What a stupid guy who doesn’t even know he’s lucky!’
But just like the saying goes, ‘You can’t win a game of dice three times by luck,’ luck wasn’t going to be a factor this time either.
Knock knock-.
Unlike before, the battles are short and fast.
At that moment, Pah felt a subtle sense of foreboding.
I ignored him and continued to swing my sword, but the feeling of awkwardness only grew worse.
And that feeling of awkwardness-.
“I will use it well.”
He revealed his clear identity and hit Pah’s head.
“Kkeuk-!”
“Pfft! That idiot! That’s why he’s been a servant for five years! That idiot!”
“He’s the one who causes all the seed embarrassment!”
The sight of Pah falling down after being struck by the bastard’s awkwardly extended sword caused outrage everywhere.
However, Gelheim, who was behind him, quietly searched his pockets.
‘Do those idiots think that’s luck? Because of those idiots, my silver coins… are almost gone…’
Fortunately, Ben took good care of the seeds, so we had plenty of silver.
‘I can’t believe it was luck. There are so many stupid people in the world.’
Gelheim held the silver coin politely and looked again at the tragedy unfolding before him.
However, the three of them were not fools at all, as they were hit by swords one after another and then closed their mouths.
Of course, the guy who was really excited didn’t stop.
I was so excited that I squeezed the kids.
Within moments, the bastard knocked them all down and came towards him.
“Are you a racist who hates the smell of garlic too?”
But those were the words of a man I couldn’t understand.
Gelheim shook his head hurriedly, holding out a silver coin at the dangerous smile that appeared on the bastard’s lips.
‘It certainly seems like the paper is different, but…’
Gelheim swallowed his doubts as he received the silver coin and looked at the man singing the seed money song again.
***
“Sir Adela has become more beautiful.”
Adela turned her head in surprise at the voice she heard next to her.
‘He went to the seed meeting.’
After confirming that the opponent was not that guy, I felt a little relieved.
The knight who greeted me was a common knight I had greeted before, but not one I particularly remembered.
“Oh… no, thank you.”
Adela smiled slightly, despite her true feelings.
No matter the opponent, the interest was always thrilling.
Adela was originally a journalist who had been pursuing attention. When she received the attention she had not received for a while, her neck naturally tense up.
The knights approached her one after another and continued to compliment her beauty.
Adela greeted him with familiarity and simply smiled slightly.
Adela’s confidence and self-esteem, which had been shattered the night before, were rekindled by the praise that followed.
‘Yes, I am Adela, the thorny flower. But why is that man···.’
Adela shook her head and shivered at the thought that suddenly occurred to her.
‘You say I stink.’
It was ridiculous.
He couldn’t take off his plate armor every time he had to urinate, which took ages to take off. So, it’s inevitable for a knight to smell, and you’re pointing that out right in front of him.
As expected from his appearance, he was a truly thoughtless guy.
The knight Saint, who approached with a sensitive look, had a different atmosphere than usual.
He was a man who had clearly suggested we go out for a meal together the last time we met, but now he was clearly showing hostility.
“Sir Adela. I didn’t see it that way. How disappointing.”
Adela was embarrassed by Saint’s distorted face and rough speech.
That would be the case, I don’t know what on earth he was disappointed about, but Adela and Saint had no such thing as disappointment in the first place.
However, since Adela had to win this duel, she needed to maintain friendly relations with Saint, who was sure to be an obstacle.
‘If we don’t win······.’
Adela shivered slightly at the thought.
“Saint Sir, what do you mean?”
Adela asked with a forced raise of the corners of her lips.
“I heard you brought in a male seed. You, who have been searching for female seed and without seed until now, suddenly brought in such a huge male seed… Tsk.”
‘I found the female seed?’
Adela frowned at the unexpected remark.
There was one reason why Adela did not bring in seeds.
I just didn’t listen because I was worried that attention would be diverted elsewhere. There was no way that such an Adela would have found a female squire.
‘It wasn’t my intention to hear it in the first place.’
I don’t know what he was thinking, but he was the first to support the seed. Adela, who had handed over the honor, had no choice.
‘···I can’t help it since I’ve handed over my honor.’
Of course, it was Adela who had rushed at me, drawing her sword, but that fact was buried in my memory.
He himself had simply been tricked and given up his honor, but like an upright knight, he had no choice but to carry out his duty.
‘So that’s why you’re talking like that, because I brought that guy in as a seed.’
Only after hearing Saint’s words did Adela understand the gossip she had been hearing from the people earlier.
‘···The authors of these articles are truly low-class.’
They were shameless enough to keep a useless female maid with them.
“That’s not it. It was given to me by Baron Fullfoot, so I had no choice.”
Adela answered with a deliberately bitter expression.
Only then did the knights’ expressions brighten.
‘That’s disgusting. You should wash up and go.’
Adela grimaced at the knight’s characteristic foul odor.
“As expected! I told you time and time again that there was no way that would happen, Sir Adela, the ‘thorny flower’! And don’t worry, Sir Adela. We have everything ready.”
“···Are you ready?”
“If that servant has any ill intentions, something could go wrong. Don’t worry, I told my servant to educate him thoroughly out of consideration for my Lady Adela.”
A knight smiling with a confident smile.
I don’t know how many of their seeds there are, or how strong they are, but…
‘The seeds are training the guy who defeated me in one go?’
“···haha.”
Adela laughed in vain, feeling so dumbfounded.
***
After work, I came back to my room.
Adela hurried into the bathroom and took off her plate armor, fumbling with her hands. Normally, she would have called the maid, but she did it alone, fearing that other words might leak out.
Then I hurriedly got into the bathtub I had prepared in advance and wrapped my body tightly in a cloth.
After finishing him off, Adela got out of the bathtub, crouched in a corner, poured water on her plate armor, and cleaned the inside thoroughly. Then, suddenly, feeling miserable about her situation, she burst into tears.
I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I last cried, but once I started crying, I couldn’t stop.
Adela, who had been crying for a long time, suddenly came to her senses, put on her still-wet plate armor, and sprayed herself with perfume.
After he finished, he called the maid over and had her check the smell, then told her not to let anyone come near, then knelt in the center of the room and raised both hands.
Adela was once again upset at how natural this whole process was.
However, I couldn’t let my guard down because I didn’t know when he would appear.
Many thoughts passed through Adela’s head as she stood there, looking like a child being scolded.
Most of them were his own faults.
‘Why did I go after him? Why did I risk my honor? Why why why······.’
If my past self were in front of me, I would want to beat him up.
Thud.
A very subtle sound.
Adela’s body trembled.
“Ah, the smell of perfume.”
puck.
“Ahh!”
Adela fell forward with a pick.
“Stop joking and get up.”
“evil!”
I quickly got up and took a stance.
There was that man across from me.
“I heard your first opponent is Shandy.”
‘It’s not Shandy, it’s Saint···.’
“evil!”
Adela answered immediately.
“Look and memorize.”
The man’s swordsmanship continued.
Adela repeated the same movements all night long, hearing that she was stupid.
***
‘A stab followed by an upper cut. If a stab is followed by a lower cut…’
Adela held her head and continued muttering.
I had never seen such a crude method before and I doubted whether it would work, but thoughts were meaningless in the face of that fist.
I just lay flat on my stomach and did whatever I was told.
“Sir Adela. Today, you are as elegant as ever···.”
I spoke to her from the side, but Adela did not respond.
‘If I don’t win, I’ll come back every day.’
His cold words, without even a hint of laughter, pierced deep into Adela’s heart.
Adela originally wanted to win, but now it was a matter of life and death. No, it was a matter of the minimum human dignity.
Although various things happened afterwards, Adela only remembered the story of the guy she had in her head.
There was a hastily built stadium in Naeseong.
Although it was very shabby, the other knights and nobles seemed satisfied.
Of course, its completion was poor compared to the newly built walls, but Adela paid no attention.
Count Behar was talking about something.
The knights went up and fought.
Adela wasn’t interested.
‘A stab followed by an upper cut. If a lower cut comes out, slightly increase the distance and stab again. Otherwise···.’
Then Adela was called.
The opponent was Saint Kyung.
“Sir Adela from the beginning. I guess this is really fate.”
The guy was muttering something, but Adela focused on the blurry figure behind Saint.
Saint took a stance, and his stance was very similar to what the bastard had shown him.
Adela muttered incessantly as she took the position the man had taught her.
The stance he had taught me was similar to Adela’s original swordsmanship, but it was more solid and gave me a sense of stability.
Of course, Adela didn’t have the presence of mind to care about that.
Then the sound of a duel match was heard.
Saint waved his hand as if to invite us in with a faint smile.
His expression was full of confidence.
That would be the case, since she had already fought against Saint several times, and Adela had lost every time. Of course, the gap was not so great that it could not be narrowed.
Adela didn’t think too deeply.
I just remembered one of the few routes the guy had told me, ‘When the Saint gives up the initiative’, and ran straight ahead.
Frontal stab-.
I had a question.
Saint’s specialty is stabbing, so when facing him, he decides to stab first. However, the movements he had already learned unfolded naturally.
“Ha! Sir Adela. Are you flirting with me? How cute!”
Saint, who had been laughing heartily, belatedly confronted him and stabbed him with his sword.
Clearly, it was a stab that was launched much later than him, but it was already aimed at him.
As expected from a Saint who ‘stabs three times’, it was an absurd speed.
However, it was just like I practiced with him.
Adela continued her movements naturally.
A smooth cut, as if he had been waiting for the stab, or had guided it.
Taaang-!
Adela’s sword struck exactly one span from the tip of Saint’s sword.
With a crisp sound, the Saint’s thin sword slightly missed.
There was a wide gap, but Saint was no pushover. Saint quickly hardened his expression and turned to cutting with his wrist.
Unlike Adela who practiced, this was an improvisation, but the response was excellent.
Of course, that was one of the things he showed.
‘Because it’s a top cut. Just move forward.’
As soon as Adela saw Saint’s wrist, she started moving forward.
Two consecutive attacks.
Chae-Ang-!
Saint’s expression looks like he’s seen a ghost.
Adela, who aimed her sword at Saint’s neck, had a similar face.
Waaaaaaaah-!!
Cheers that erupted belatedly.
Only then did Adela realize what was happening.
He defeated Saint.
And that too in just three rounds.
Adela turned her head.
“I love seed money! Seed money is the best!”
There he was, with his arms around the sad-looking seeds, singing a strange song.
‘···I did exactly as he told me. How?’
Adela shivered with a different kind of fear altogether.
““A flower with thorns!””
However, countless cheers and applause followed.
A feeling that had become so common that it had been forgotten.
Adela laughed heartily at the thrill that struck her whole body.
***
I shook my head as I watched Adela trying hard to control herself from cheering.
It was effective to take the sword out of Shangdi’s servant, as they say even a dog in a private school can recite poetry after two years.
‘It’s a good thing my first opponent was a five-year-old seed.’
Since he was a disciple who had been watching and learning from the side for five years, he was able to imitate the knight’s sword, even if it was not perfect.
I plugged in the article I had looked at in advance and got a rough estimate.
I wrote a scenario to get Adela in the best possible condition for her showdown with the guy, and then injected it into her in the Korean style.
As expected, we were able to win in the Korean way, focusing on the result rather than the process.
“Ouch. Ouch. Aah-.”
Adela returned to her seat and muttered softly. Judging from the excitement in her voice, it seemed as if she was expressing joy.
It seemed like there was a distorted process that was a problem with Korean-style education, but something so minor could not be helped.
And considering Adela’s old way of speaking, becoming ‘Ackdela’ might have been better for her relationships.
And seeing him smile made it seem like he was satisfied with it.
It was a satisfactory education for both.
‘Next up was Tyranno and Ben.’
I thought about who Adela would meet tomorrow.
Among them, the Tyranno Knight came up to the stadium.
‘A greatsword, is it to compensate for the short arms?’
I strained my eyes to check the Tyranno Knight.
‘This guy’s been around for three years… It’s similar, but it feels a little different.’
This time, Tyranno’s opponent was an ordinary knight with no special features.
I roughly called him Knight A.
Knight A, who was dealing with Tyranno, responded passively from the beginning, which led to irreversible results.
The Tyranno Knight swung his greatsword with a large swing.
There were many gaps, but the passive Knight A did not aim for him, as if he was looking at the estimate. As Tyranno’s offensive continued, the power stored in his sword increased.
When things got to the point where he couldn’t handle it, Knight A ran out of the arena without even raising his sword.
‘That’s an article too… tsk.’
The result was a vain victory for the Tyranno Inspectorate.
After mastering the Seed’s Sword and watching the Tyranno Inspector’s duel, I have a rough idea.
I had to catch Tyranno before his black speed caught up.
‘The problem is how to dig in···.’
Tyranno nodded at Adela, who had come down victoriously and was grumbling.
Adela had no honor anyway.
If we won, it would be a jackpot.
Adela felt a chill on her back and shivered slightly.
***
“Count Bonita’s proposal for an alliance···.”
“The eldest son of the Kembain family to Youngae···.”
Important words were exchanged quickly from the side, but Nova could not hear them.
‘What the… what is that kid doing over there?’
Nova’s eyes widened at the sight of a strange leather helmet standing tall among the seeds.
Nova got up from her seat and ran down hurriedly, ignoring the gazes around her.
“If a seed has no money, is it really a seed?”
Soon, Aaron was seen gathering seeds and making strange noises.
Nova hurriedly cleaned her head and took out a clove of garlic that she had kept in her bosom.
The spicy and sour smell brought tears to my eyes, but I got used to it after practicing.
“What are you doing here?”
Nova took a big bite of garlic and asked,
“Ugh… what is that, the smell of raw garlic.”
As the bastard backed away, the chewed garlic fell to the floor and rolled around.
***
‘Running errands at this age…’
Grun, the leader of the cute rabbits, ground his teeth.
The pillar man, Anderson, who had no parents, immediately swung his whip, and Grun, who was defeated by him, headed towards Cassidyk.
In the midst of being busy, I had to drag the children along in a carriage.
“Two… Boss, isn’t that table tennis?”
Grun turned his head in surprise at the voice he heard next to him.
There was a half-rise wall there, and its appearance was unusual.
Grun, who had been a stonemason all his life, was truly amazed by the smooth surface and the pictures carved on it.
Grun, who had been listening to the sound of the stonemasonry in Karzan, was impressed by the great skill emanating from the castle walls.
‘How can a stonemason have such skills… He’s a dwarf?’
It was a wall that naturally brought to mind the dwarves of the North.
Grun’s subordinates were so low-level that they couldn’t sense him and were just talking nonsense.
‘Tsk, my main occupation is stonemasonry…’
The organization that was formed to protect its own rights has changed its character at some point.
Of course, Grun took the lead as the leader, but it was inevitable that he would feel uncomfortable when faced with such a masterpiece of art.
After admiring it for a while, Grun realized belatedly that the figure on the wall looked familiar.
‘The pitch is different···.’
But the shape was definitely that of a bastard.
If not, then it was definitely the same species as that guy.
Grun didn’t think the guy was human.
I guessed it was a werewolf, the long-time enemy of vampires, or a wolf or some wild animal or something like that.
Then it was their turn.
“Where did you come from···.”
I came across a familiar face.
A guy who perfectly fits the definition of ‘looking mean’. He was the guy who played table tennis.
“I hate black blood! I love the Empire!!”
““I hate black blood! I love the Empire!””
The bastard’s cry for help was answered from behind.
“You guys…what is going on here?”
The guy with the look on his face like he needed to take a dump asked in a trembling voice.
“Danso sent me to meet Takgu. I have something to tell you.”
“······What should I tell you?”
It was the first time Grun had seen a person’s pupils roll exactly once. The man swallowed hard and asked quietly, as if whispering.
He then pointed to the carriage behind him with his chin.
The man took a deep breath, opened the carriage door with trembling hands, and checked inside.
His slitted eyes suddenly grew three times larger and drool started to drip from the corners of his mouth.
Then, the guy who was reaching out his trembling hand toward the gold coin suddenly slapped himself in the face.
Crack-!
A brisk sound.
As if that wasn’t enough, the man who slapped his own cheek again made an expression similar to that of a monk.
“No matter how good the gold is, one is better than two.”
The man who was mumbling something incomprehensible nodded.
“Go inside and wait at the ‘Awesome Aaron Rabbit’ bar. If anyone asks, tell them your name is Deokgu.”
The man with red handprints on both cheeks said.
Grun, who was momentarily taken aback by the strange reaction, opened his mouth as he recalled the castle wall.
“Oh, is the man who built that wall in Cassadic Castle?”
“···Why are you curious about that?”
A guy who suddenly opens his eyes narrowly and holds out his hand.
Suddenly, a dagger was in the bastard’s hand.
Grun was startled by the natural movement.
‘What is that smell? Is it poison?’
The pungent smell from the dagger assailed his mind.
When I looked at him in surprise, I saw that the owner of the dagger was also trembling with reddened eyes.
“This guy!!”
Grun’s men screamed in surprise, but the guards had already surrounded them.
‘···When did that happen?’
Grun swallowed and raised both hands at the response of the guards, which was faster than Karzan’s.
“I am a stonemason, so I asked because I was curious about who had such outstanding skills.”
Grun answered, trying to hold back tears that were welling up in his eyes at the pungent smell.
“I see. The one who built the wall was our Boradong. Kanna Boradong is also at the ‘Awesome Aaron Rabbit’ bar, so you can meet him there.”
The man with tears streaming down his reddened eyes gestured while picking up his dagger.
Grun nodded and went inside.
For a frontier castle, Cassidy was quite populated.
Grun asked them and found the ‘Nice Aaron Rabbit’ bar.
The giant standing in front of them stopped them.
“Where the hell did those guys come from?”
Judging from the atmosphere, it was clear that they were people in the same industry.
‘Well, a big bar like this could easily be managed by a local gangster.’
Grun calmed his men and stepped forward.
“I came to play table tennis.”
“···Table tennis? It’s the first time I’ve heard that name.”
“I’m sure some mean-looking man from the castle gate told me to come to this bar. Oh! He said Deok-gu.”
“Dylan? Deokgu is dead… Hmm… Be careful inside.”
The man stepped aside with a trembling face.
As Grun was passing by him, he asked a thought that suddenly occurred to him when he saw the man’s appearance.
“Oh, are you the stonemason who built the walls here? Your skills are…”
“No, I’m not a guy who touches pieces of stone. I’m a carpenter who climbs mountains with dignity like a man.”
“Tch! What a dirty carpenter!”
The subordinate behind him reflexively swore and pulled out his extension cord.
Then a crowd of men came out of the bar, more than twice as many as Grunne.
After Grun humiliatingly admitting that carpenters are more manly than stonemasons, he was allowed into the tavern.
‘I guess this is a hideout.’
The bar was full of men with a rough, savage, industry-related odor.
There was a neutral zone there, and everyone was separated like different organizations.
As they entered, their eyes were all fixed on them.
Under the burden, Grun tried to straighten his bent back.
at that time.
“You are a foreigner.”
The girl standing in the middle of them asked repeatedly.
