chapter 10
Knight entrance test – 5
“The test ends here.”
It was Iris who intervened between us.
Just like Rize said not to worry because she will control her power perfectly, the double dagger Rize held stopped at a precarious distance just before reaching Iris.
Conversely, the bloody sword in my hand was trembling with Iris holding onto it. Upon noticing that fact, the vibration of the sword body suddenly stopped when he relaxed his hand.
Iris, who interrupted the sparring by intervening between me and Rise at an invisible speed, let go of the sword only after confirming that both of them had relaxed.
The tip of the knife went weakly to the floor.
“Was the last skill you used a frost storm attack?”
“Of course. You said you only use one. Then it’s going to be the hottest. What else could there be?”
Ah, is it a bit like the expression of being hot while using ice? One word was added.
“I would have said for sure that this was just an entrance exam. This time, you took care of me in moderation, so I passed without any damage—”
“Isn’t that enough?”
Rize smiled single-single and met my eyes. It was a smile that seemed to have a lot to say. I averted my eyes.
“What do you mean, Rize?”
“It is literally. I was sincere from beginning to end, not even paying attention. That the newcomer accepted everything to the best of his ability. Right, newbie?”
Iris and even Erica looked at me at those words that sounded like a bombshell declaration. As three different colored eyes turned to me, I felt a pressure that seemed to pierce my face.
“But if you haven’t adjusted your strength, that’s a problem as it is. Did you forget?”
“I could have stopped at any time if I wanted to stop it. Iris, you reacted to your sudden interruption and stopped, so I wonder if the newcomer couldn’t tell if he could stop it or not?”
Lize, who simply dismissed Iris’ concerns, came next to me with that single smile on her face. Then he put his arm on my shoulder and pulled me down with force.
There was quite a difference in height between us, so it was because I had to bend down a little to get to eye level even when standing on tiptoe. Rize raised the other finger and pricked my cheek with her index finger.
“Hey, I was genuinely surprised, newcomer. I couldn’t have imagined that he would even attempt a counterattack in that situation. Wasn’t it empty when you said before the match what if we all got back?”
“How about dignity and face as the commander of the knights?”
“It doesn’t really matter anymore. It has been confirmed that our rookie is such a fortune-teller with so much potential, but I wonder if it’s important that he didn’t win even once in sparring?”
The body was tighter. Because the posture was the posture, her chest, almost the size of her head, was rubbed against my arm. Although the person who pushed for it didn’t seem to have any awareness of his own posture.
“And one more thing. There is one very, very important thing that our newcomer must know. You absolutely have to listen to this.”
Rize’s voice suddenly calmed down and changed to a serious expression. Then I became serious as well. How important is it that you have to weigh it so much?
“You, talk to me.”
“… … yes?”
For a moment, I knew I had heard it wrong.
Suddenly, his voice and expression became serious, so I wanted to say something so important, but to stop talking. It was a really unexpected suggestion.
“You don’t need to use honorifics for me, so let go. It’s uncomfortable for you to do it and it’s also uncomfortable for me to hear it, so I’m just saying that you should cut off all formalities and speak comfortably. It’s a special service that our rookie likes so much, how about it? Do you like it?”
“uh… … .”
I didn’t know how to react to this again. Even if the personality is different from the original NPC that appeared in the game, it was very different. He asked Iris and Erica for help with his eyes.
Perhaps reading the intentions in my eyes, Erika opened her mouth in a philosophical tone.
“Just accept it. Even if I refuse now, I will cling to it until I hear the answer that I knew it. Even though my sister looks like that, she is stubborn.”
“Even if it looks like that? Hey, what does that mean?”
“What do you mean, sister? You should know better.”
Rize growled at Erica for a moment, then lowered her voice again and quietly came out and met my eyes.
“Ignore him. Anyway, did you just hear that, newbie? Now you can talk to me, or you can talk to Erica. You talk normally with Iris anyway, right? it’s the same as that He and Iris are the same age, so there’s no particular problem. Come on, quickly say Rize. yes?”
Were you the oldest here? It didn’t look that way at all.
I opened my mouth carefully, unable to bear the blazing pressure that was buried in the eyes looking at me.
“lee… … My?”
“Yes, yes. you’re good. Don’t use honorifics from now on, just call me comfortably. I don’t need Rize’s Knight Commander, Rize’s Knight Commander, Rize’s sister, or Rize’s sister. Just one Lizé is enough. Understand?”
Rize clung to me smiling broadly at what she liked so much.
Looking at the outside, the person who looks cold enough to not bleed even if stabbed with a needle is the most lively and friendly personality, so it was difficult to adapt to the sense of incongruity that comes from that difference.
“So you passed the entrance exam… … Are you passing?”
I was about to use honorifics without much thought, but when Rize, who was dangling from me, applied strength to her neck with her hatchet eyes open, I hurriedly changed my title. Rize smiled again and clung to me.
“Of course I passed! What would be my face if I rejected our rookie here? Are you Erica? No, you’re going to say you passed anyway, right? then it doesn’t matter Welcome to the Knights of the Argent Dawn, newcomer!”
“… … I don’t like it when you judge me on your own, but this time it’s true, so I can’t deny it. I have the same thoughts as Rize unnie. Welcome to the Knights of the Argent Dawn, newcomer.”
When notifications of acceptance fell from Rize and Erika, Iris nodded with an expression of understanding. It was a face that seemed quite deep in faith, perhaps because of the things he had shown so far.
“Welcome to the team, newcomer. Think about the organization step by step, and take a break for now. The introduction will be formal after Claudia returns.”
As long as my stamina wasn’t depleted, I didn’t feel particularly tired, so it was fine whether I took a break or not, but there was no need to refuse such consideration, so I quietly nodded my head.
“Erika, guide the newcomer to the lodging. The location… … It should be the floor right below the knight commanders’ quarters. I will leave it up to you to decide which room to assign.”
“Okay, Iris. Then let’s go, Mr. We will guide you to your accommodation.”
As the newcomer and Erica completely disappeared inside the castle, Rize made a fuss in a voice full of surprise.
“Iris, where did you find such an amazing kid? did you see it too? Are you deflecting all my attacks? You can’t believe that you’re a rookie, aren’t you?”
“I do not know either.”
“Hey, don’t lie. It’s like a lover that you secretly hid somewhere to catch and eat—- Wait, wait! I can’t even joke?!”
Seeing Iris clenching her fists with cold eyes, Rize hurriedly swallowed her words saying that it was just a joke. Iris clicked her tongue and relaxed her fist.
“If I had known, I would have told you sooner. I really don’t know. I went to inspect the prison on his order, and most of the people there were killed by the monsters, and only that newcomer survived. Besides, the person who survived was cursed by a witch and has no memories, no hair, and nothing. What on earth can I know?”
“A monster did that? Shouldn’t that have been subjugated?”
“There is no need for that. Because he killed him.”
“Kill? that rookie? That monster?”
“okay.”
“… … how?”
Iris gave a brief account of what had happened in the prison.
Looking around the entire prison and confirming that there are no survivors, he came out and found a newcomer fighting the monster alone near the main gate. In the end, the rookie succeeded in subjugating alone.
As if he knew how to attack that monster, even the fact that he easily countered every attack with a crude steel sword.
At first, I tried to help, but for some reason I thought that shouldn’t be the case, so I just watched and blew off the armor in the last attack.
Rize, who kept her mouth shut and listened to Iris’ explanation from beginning to end, opened her mouth with a slightly hardened expression.
“Didn’t I say that the new guy was abandoned?”
“He said it with his own mouth. probably right If you don’t really believe it, you can use the ability confirmation orb.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t believe in new recruits. It’s not that I don’t believe it… … that he was cursed It’s not a rumor, it’s a witch’s curse. Then you’re saying that your physical abilities won’t be any different from ordinary people, you won’t be able to use magic, and you won’t be able to handle mana. But how could such a thing be possible?”
Rize recalled that during the entrance exam, the rookie had accurately seen through all of her attacks and deflected them. It wasn’t just a fluke, it was possible because the person’s skills were really outstanding.
Although there was a sign of being pushed back in power, there was no sign of being pushed back in technology. No matter how many consecutive hits or how fast I attacked, the feeling that I had figured out and read them in advance was stronger.
The more I thought about it, the more strange it was.
“… … .”
As the conversation stopped for a moment as each lost their thoughts, Iris stared down at the palm on the side of the newcomer’s sword. His palms were wounded.
It was a very light scar that would be embarrassing to even call it a wound, but the fact that it had such a mark was itself a problem.
Considering the gap in power and skill between the two, this kind of scar shouldn’t have happened. I had to simply grab the sword and end it there.
But it didn’t.
“it… … Are you a newcomer?”
It was a word that was cut back and forth, but the meaning was enough. Iris nodded in affirmation.
At the end of the last, the rookie reacted instantaneously to the counter-parrying, which was Rise’s target, and twisted the trajectory of the attack. That was the reason why his palms were slightly cut.
Rize prepared a counter-parry after seeing that the newcomer’s attack stance was staggering in the brief moment when the attack came in, less than a second.
While trying to deflect all of Rize’s attacks and counterattack in reverse, the rookie twisted the sword’s trajectory in response to the incoming counter parrying.
Iris intervened and changed her posture as soon as she confirmed that the trajectory of the sword had been distorted. All three could be said to have similar abilities.
Yes, the problem was that all three were equally skilled.
Two of them are veteran knight commanders who have held the sword for over 10 years, and the other is a human cursed by a witch. It was natural that the skills should not be the same.
“Until that point, I was just admiring it, but at the end, I was genuinely surprised. Didn’t you, of course, intervene thinking that the rookie wouldn’t be able to respond?”
“… … I will not deny it.”
If I had been there, would I have been able to act the same as the rookie? Iris asked herself a question.
No matter how many times I thought about it, the answer was no.
It deflects all of those ruthless combo attacks, and even in the midst of that, it tries to attack by finding gaps, and changes its trajectory by reading the counterattack posture of an unexpectedly incoming enemy right before the attack begins.
Above all, he had to achieve all of that in his first encounter with Rise, with a body whose physical abilities were drastically reduced due to the witch’s curse.
It was impossible by common sense, but the rookie did it without any hesitation. I wouldn’t believe it even if I confided it as a bar saga.
I couldn’t even guess what kind of person he was originally, or how much talent was inherent in him.
“Iris.”
“Why but?”
“Don’t you have a special relationship with the rookie or something like that?”
“That special relationship is not if you are talking about rational attraction. It’s just that we met by chance in prison. Do you have any reason to ask such a thing?”
“reason? there is If you didn’t want it first, I’m going to take it.”
Rize pursed her lips.
I liked the newcomer in many ways. Her appearance was quite compliant, her body was good, and above all, she had the conditions that perfectly matched Rize’s sexual orientation.
Discovering a man with outstanding skills and talent at an early age, growing it up, and later being eaten by Rize himself. That was Rize’s sexual orientation.
He himself knew very well that his sexuality was an embarrassing taste to show, and he thought it was almost impossible to make it a reality, so he always pictured it as a utopia in his mind.
But now, a man who seems to have taken out his utopia as it is is approaching right in front of his eyes. Never, no matter what, I must not miss this opportunity.
In addition, the fact that the newcomer was a strong adult male was a plus factor. What Lizee wanted was a man who was reliable and talented but hadn’t developed that, not a stocky kid or kid.
“do whatever you want. I won’t mind.”
“Really? You don’t want to say anything else later? After I’ve eaten, you suddenly appear and say you’re the first to meet Iris and try to put a spoon on it, but you don’t do that, right?”
“What do you see me as? I don’t do that.”
Right before Lize got excited and ran out after getting permission from Iris, a blunt voice stopped Lize.
“Oh, I have one question for you.”
“ok? what is that?”
That Iris asks a personal question first? This was a very rare situation. The leg stopped on its own. Rize pricked up her ears.
“You’ve never held a man’s hand before, but do you know how to seduce a man?”
“What bitch?”
Rize looked at Iris with puzzled eyes. That woman who ‘has never held a man’s hand’ says something like that on a topic that applies to her?