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“Do you see the bracelet I’m wearing? If you raise your magical powers above a certain level, you will hear a warning sound immediately. Be careful because if you exceed the set level, you will lose.”
Jin helped us wear the artifact necessary for the match and continued to explain.
“The purpose is to destroy the opponent’s artifacts. Refrain from attacks that will inflict damage as much as possible. Do you have any other questions?”
“No, Mr. Jin. Thank you for the detailed explanation,”
Lia nodded and thanked Jin for the explanation.
Jin scratched the back of his head a little awkwardly.
“Do you have any questions, Brother Si?”
“… I have questions about why things get messier whenever I’m involved in it. Am I cursed or something?”
As I said in a gloomy way, Jin smiled bitterly and patted me on the back.
“Cheer up, bro! You were pretty cool and confident earlier.”
“Lia came forward confidently, so, I just got swallowed in the flow…”
PUK
“Ugh!”
I groaned feeling pain in my back.
When I looked back, I found Yerin with her eyes wide open.
“Cheer up! You have to teach a lesson to those damn schemers.”
She burned the fighting spirit in her eyes as if she was the one going to fight.
“Don’t be nervous and fight like you want to. Even if you break a leg or two, Uncle Kang will take care of everything.”
“Kuh-huh…”
At the sudden declaration, Kang Heseop coughed in a slightly flustered manner.
However, when Yerin’s stinging eyes continued, he nodded his head with great determination.
“As Yerin said. Don’t worry about anything and fight to your heart’s content.”
Yerin and Jin responded in different ways to Kang Heseop’s words.
“As expected, Uncle is the best!”
“Guild master, that’s a bit….”
It was a little ridiculous cheering, but thanks to that, I felt a little relaxed.
“Thank you, guild master. I’ll give my best shot.”
“Ah! Get it over with quickly. Let’s all go out for a get-together afterwards.”
“Brother Si, Miss. Lia, Good luck”
“Smash ‘em up!”
Lia and I headed to the place where the sparring took place with the support of the guild people.
Lia grinned softly and murmured to me.
“They’re nice people.”
“Yes.”
“I hope they come to visit us someday on our farm. It would be great to have everyone.”
“Well… if we have a chance, that’s not bad either.”
There was a slight smile on our faces.
But the smile didn’t last long.
This was because Astora guild members approached us wearing similar artifacts, from the other side.
Both of them were full of confidence on their faces and looked down on us.
Lia’s cold tone came out of her mouth as if she had read the atmosphere.
“I guess, it would be better to deal with those two people first.”
“….”
It also got on my nerves looking at their blatant attitude.
At the same time, nervousness spread throughout the body.
A man walked between us and Astora guild members.
He was the man who was called the representative of the Gaon Guild, who supported us earlier.
“I’m Park Joon, guild master of Gaon Guild, and will be the referee of this match. I think everyone here is familiar with the rules of the match.”
He spoke in a solemn voice, alternating between sides.
“If you attack aggressively or put out huge magic, we will immediately stop the confrontation. If you don’t follow my instructions, you’ll be judged unqualified.”
Park Joon, who briefly said the precautions, looked at Lia’s four sides.
“Young Lady, Aren’t you going to use a weapon?”
All three except Lia had a practice sword in their hands.
“Yes. I’m good with my bare hands.”
SMIRK
Laughter came from the other side when Lia said she didn’t need a weapon.
Lia’s eyes looking at them became colder.
“All right. Then the match will begin at my signal.”
“….. “
I prepared for the sparring with both hands holding the awkward practice sword.
On the other hand, the two opponents still smiled and looked relaxed.
Park Joon raised one arm above his head and sent a start signal.
“Ready…”
“Start!”
BAM
A red light flash flashed in front of my eyes at the same time as the start was signaled.
CRACK CRACK
And a series of eerie sounds followed.
It happened so quickly and the scene that unfolded in front of my eyes felt unreal.
It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
The same was true for numerous guild representatives and officials watching.
Park Joon, the referee, and even Astora Guild members who participated in the sparring were dumbfounded at the scene.
Everyone couldn’t accept the reality in front of them and looked blank as if they were dreaming.
When everyone was struggling at the boundary between reality and dream, Lia’s voice rang out clearly in everyone’s ears.
“Isn’t this how you do it?”
THUD THUD.
As she unfolded her hands, the remains of the artifacts fell.
It was definitely what the Astora Guild members were wearing in a normal way until a while ago.
Everyone’s face, which began to return to reality little by little, overflowed with only one emotion – Surprise.
There was a red glow in Lia’s eyes.
Then, Park Joon flinched and trembled, and spoke in a heavily stuttering voice.
“Both of them had their defensive artifacts destroyed, so the victory has been decided. The winners of the competition are the Guardians Guild members!”
He declared our victory.
The spectators shouted in disbelief.
“This is ridiculous!”
“Holysh*t. She did it with bare hands?”
“What the hell was that…”
On the contrary, cheers broke out from among the Guardians guild members.
“Wow! They won! That’s the way! Go girl!!”
“Hahaha! Unbelievable”
“She was amazing!”
After giving cold eyes to the Astora guild members who are still out of their minds, Lia turned to me and came back with light steps.
There was an endless warm smile on her face.
Lia, who stopped in front of me, looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
It was like seeing Speranza who wanted praise.
Maybe that’s why I raised my hand on the momentum and stroked her head as if I was dealing with Speranza without realizing it.
TAP TAP
“You did a great job, Lia.”
Lia opened her eyes wide at the unexpected praise.
Recognizing my mistake belatedly, I hurriedly lowered my hand and apologized.
“Sorry, I’m sorry, Lia. I didn’t realize it, that…?”
“No, It’s fine. I was rather happy to hear your compliment.”
She smiled with a slightly blushed face.
I was ashamed of myself, so I slipped away from her eyes.
When we were sharing the joy of victory, the Astora Guild representative shouted in an urgent voice.
“I can’t accept this! Something must have gone wrong!”
“What’s wrong? Artifacts were clearly destroyed. Isn’t it entirely the Astora Guild’s fault for not being able to cope with the attack?”
Park Joon said, pointing to the facts in front of his eyes.
Astora representative paused for a moment but quickly began to make unreasonable claims with an expression of resentment.
“Does it make sense that the artifacts would easily break with her bare hands that too with limited magical powers?
Park Joon couldn’t easily answer Astora representative’s acquisition,
“Um….”
Lia’s attack, which was so quick and accurate, seemed suspicious in everyone’s eyes.
“But didn’t everyone watch? She destroyed the Artifact….”
“It must have been a faulty one. Otherwise, this doesn’t make any sense!”
As he continued to force himself, Park Joon looked perplexed.
In the end, Kang Heseop, who couldn’t stand it, screamed out.
“What the hell are you doing? Don’t you have any pride?”
“Ugh…”
Astora guild representative frowned in humiliation, but he didn’t budge.
“There must have been a problem with the Artifact. These results are not acceptable. Perhaps the other guild representatives also feel the same way.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“We have to replace the Artifacts and do a rematch…”
When he insisted on a rematch, Kang Heseop burst out laughing as if he was dumbfounded.
“Oh, my! You want a REMATCH. Are you out of your mind? We won fair and square”
“Look at the reactions of the other representatives. They’re all saying something’s wrong.”
Not everyone agrees with Astora representative’s claims, but there certainly seems to be a sense of uncertainty on their faces.
Because of Lia’s incredible performance, opinions inclined more and more toward defective artifact hypotheses.
It was really ridiculous for us, who had already been declared victorious.
At the time, when the atmosphere was going in favor Astora guild.
“It doesn’t matter if we have a rematch.”
“What…??”
Kang Heseop looked back surprised at Lia’s voice.
“I thought it ended too bland. I don’t mind having a rematch.”
And she looked at me as if she was leaving the decision to me.
Naturally, everyone’s eyes were on me.
After making a puzzled face for a moment, I nodded and agreed with Lia’s opinion.
“I’m fine, too. I don’t know if there was a problem with the Artifact, but I think it would be better if everyone could understand it through a rematch.”
As soon as I gave my permission, Astora guild members’ faces brightened.
“Haha! That’s great. I’ll replace it with a new artifact right away and prepare it.”
And without hearing our answer, they quickly rushed to their guild’s side.
Kang Heseop looked irritated about how things had turned out, and Park Joon shook his head as if saying he couldn’t do anything.
“Will it be okay? You guys don’t have to listen to their forceful demands.”
Kang Heseop asked apologetically.
Lia and I smiled signaling everything was fine.
The two Astora guild members once again appeared in front of us wearing the new Artifacts.
“…….”
“……..?”
The relaxed appearance that was on their faces earlier disappeared completely, and there was a sign of tension in the face and stiffness in the hands holding the weapon.
As before, Park Joon raised one arm and sent a start signal.
“Ready… Start!”
BAM!
Once again, Lia shot forward leaving a red afterimage.
However, unlike earlier, Astora guild members responded to her attack.
TAK TAK
They completely blocked Lia’s attack with a sword.
Seizing a chance to counterattack, they tried to strike back, but…
BAM.
Lia’s hands moved one step ahead and quickly landed on the side of the opponent.
Her opponent couldn’t properly respond to her movements.
CRACK!
The eerie sound of destruction resounded once again.
In one of the hands of Lia, there were the remains of Artifact.
“Ah…”
“Oh, dear…”
Sighs could be heard from the crowd who were watching the overwhelming difference in power.
There was only one opponent left.
Realizing that his colleague was easily overpowered, he turned his eyes away from Lia and ran straight toward me.
“Youuuu…”
He rushed at me without proper posture.
It seemed like he was going to save his face by taking me down.
It looked quite fierce when I saw him come running towards me, but it was a little confusing rather than scary.
It was because the opponent’s attack was so sloppy and crude.
If I had attacked like this, Alfred would have nagged a lot, really a lot.
I felt relaxed as I thought of Alfred for a moment, and naturally overpowered the opponent’s attack.
CHAEENG!
The two swords collided obliquely and made the sound of metal rubbing strongly.
And before I knew it, the opponent’s attack went in a direction that had nothing to do with my side.
After a perfect defense, it was a perfect chance to attack!
Looking at the confused opponent’s eyes, I broke his Artifacts without hesitation.
CRACK!
The wreckage of the destroyed artifact fell to the ground and spread in all directions.
Once again, silence lingered around.
But it was a completely different atmosphere from before.
I asked, looking toward the Astora Guild representative.
“I think it ended blandly this time, too. Do you want to do it again?”
Quite naturally, the answer did not come back.