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Evan D. Sherden, Meets the Legend (4)
After the greetings, which were shocking in many ways, all the heroes sat at the table, led by Bernard. Since there was no attendant there, Evan, the Marquis’s second son, was serving all of them.
“Please have some tea.”
“Oh my God, thank you. You’re such a precious little boy.”
“He is one of a kind among all the other nobles. After all, the Sherden family is unique.”
Evan had prepared some cookies in advance, which he put in front of them next to the tea. He then sat down and sighed satisfactorily while drinking his poisonous tea.
Bernard was by now accustomed to his behavior, but the others were startled at this.
“Hey Bernard, why is this kid drinking poison?”
“He is undergoing poison resistance training… It’s not anything that I ordered him to do, so don’t look at me with those eyes.”
“Poison resistance training… That’s right, it’s also possible to train and increase your existence level by consuming poison like that.”
“It will work, but isn’t this training too harsh for him at such an age…?
It was hard for those who didn’t know the game system to understand the idea of ’preparing for poisoning by eating poison in advance.’
When Evan laughed happily, Leo roughly scratched his head and turned to Bernard and asked.
“Is it okay to trust this guy, since he can listen to everything we say?”
“He can be trusted. He won’t just listen but depending on my needs, he will also help us. That is why I called him here.”
“Huh.” Leo looked at Evan again with a small exclamation. Soon, his face changed.
“What? It’s not possible to have such strength at this age. Is he really human? I wouldn’t have believed it even if he was a demon.”
“I am also surprised sometimes, but he is definitely human. Evan, show them your training method.”
“It’s not that surprising to be honest…”
Amid the joint attention from all the heroes, Evan felt ashamed to be doing something like this. Even though he was very embarrassed, he summoned and crushed the slime as Bernard had told him to do. The party cried out in unison.
“…Whoa, that was absurd enough for a kid like him.”
“Oh, my goodness. He also knows how to use artifacts! I also like his tricks.”
Everyone in the group immediately understood the mechanism of his training.
As they had been hunting monsters in the old days, they knew that humans could become slightly stronger through hunting monsters.
“Isn’t this just a normal slime though? Aren’t those ice slime ones the strongest?”
“No matter what the slime is, you can’t grow this much to be able to crush them instantly.”
“Evan, now show them the way you normally do in your routine.”
“Oh, really, should I?”
Evan felt shy. He had to show these people how he killed slimes when they were the ones who caught the most dangerous of devils in the past. If this wasn’t embarrassing, then what was?
Evan felt like he would start crying at any moment now, but as usual, he summoned four slimes in one hand and four in the other. Then he killed all eight of them at the spot by clenching his fists.
“What the hell…!”
“Oh, my gosh….”
Evan had mastered overwhelming efficiency. His technique was brilliant, and his continuous action could be called art itself!
The fact that Evan had been crushing slimes so far seemed to be incredibly stupid, but it was the coolest idea for someone of his age, and it was most efficient, too.
“It might make sense to be so strong by doing that alone…”
“He also went into the dungeon. He was able to clear the 5th floor and then came out.”
“Well, with this ability, even the 30th floor might not pose any threat or problem to him. But how did such a child come from a noble family? I guess the Sherden family really does have hidden gems.” Aria said this and laughed innocently like a little girl.
Evan puffed up both his cheeks and angered the slimes for nothing. It was different from what he usually did.
But Illoin, who was looking at him with strange eyes, asked Bernard.
“Dane… No, Bernard. Didn’t you teach him this?”
“It took me a while to learn this guy’s secret. You know, in the first place, I’m not a human capable of thinking like this.”
“Oh, is that so? Hmm…”
Illoin nodded and fixed her gaze on Evan’s face. Evan also saw a question mark floating on the face of a beautiful elf.
“Why are you doing that?”
“Are you really from the Sherden family?”
“As I said before, you are right, but…” Illoin kept tilting her head.
When everyone continued to look at her, she eventually shook her head.
“No, it must be my mistake. I’m sorry to creep you out, Evan D. Sherden. Elves can’t distinguish human faces very well. I hope you can forgive me.”
“It’s okay. I usually do this a lot.”
Evan was an ordinary person who felt nervous just facing such legends, yet responded with a casual expression even in front of an overwhelmingly beautiful elf. There were so many pretty people around that it had lessened the intimidation he felt.
But this time, Leo spoke, putting his hand on Evan’s shoulder.
“Hey, Bernard. I like him.”
“Isn’t it a bit too soon for that? And don’t covet him, he’s my disciple.”
“So selfish. We’re friends, aren’t we? Can’t we share a student?”
“This kid doesn’t have a talent for swords. Ah, even if you are the King of All Swords, there is no point in teaching him.”
King of All Swords. It was the title given to Leo Arpeta, born with the highest aptitude for all kinds of swords. He could handle a dagger, long sword, sword breaker, rapier, Zweihander, and even a terrific-sized Great Sword that seemed impossible to be lifted by humans. Yes, he was the possessor of a unique aptitude for swordsmanship.
‘The ability to freely handle any sword. Even if you train with a rapier, you will receive a skill correction.’
When Yo-Ma Great War 2 first came out, people swore that they set the aptitude as an important factor and made only the protagonist with this munchkin.
However, when one played the game, other characters may not be able to make use of their preferences depending on the situation—seeing that only the protagonist played an active role by changing swords according to Leo’s situation was quite the response.
Leo Arpeta was the main character, and many found it awesome. He was the best swordsman!
“What, you don’t have a talent for swords? Don’t lie, this guy is very talented in martial arts. I’m never mistaken for anything like this.”
“It was said that he had no talent for swords, but not that he had no talent for martial arts. This guy is a martial arts genius.”
“Really?”
“I am not a genius. Is the knight commander coming over?”
Evan, thinking about Leo’s aptitude, suddenly spoke up again.
Leo, on the other hand, was deafened by the argument and soon stood up. Evan felt tremendous anxiety over the series of flows.
“Grandpa Bernard, I suddenly have a stomach ache, so I’d like to go.”
“I think it’s a little too late to give up, boy.”
“Okay, then let me stick close to you!”
No escape was allowed by Leo, who quickly grabbed Evan’s nape and lifted it, laughing. Seeing his rapid movements, Evan began to feel tension coursing through him.
“If you are Bernard’s disciple, you would be learning alchemy, including fighting skills. This is fun, it’s really, really fun. I can already see why Bernard chose to settle here.”
“It will be more fun to experience it.”
“Oh, I’m not liking this…”
The excitement of being able to meet Leo Arpeta had already disappeared. Evan didn’t know that he would end up having to battle the legend! This felt like a fight between a dog and a dragon!
Evan pledged that if he died, he would haunt Bernard forever for letting something like this happen.
Once they were out of the hostel, the group made their way towards a moderately large and vacant lot.
Originally, quite a few people were hanging around, but the Marquis soldiers quickly began to shoo them away, bowing their heads politely to Leo.
“Wow, these people are amazing once they notice us approaching.”
“You walk in such a noisy manner that it’d be impossible not to notice you.” Bernard replied to Leo with a deep sigh. He believed that Leo would thoroughly disguise himself when he came to him, but he shouldn’t have expected that kind of thing from such a boisterous man.
‘It would be nice if something unexpected didn’t occur…’
It would be impossible. Bernard walked right behind Leo, silently laughing at his thoughts. The air felt cold against the skin.
“Then kid, let’s fight!”
“Leo Arpeta, I swear…”
“Damn…”
It was too sudden to call the Legendary Hero, Leo Arpeta, but it wasn’t a new thing because Bernard was already calling him that way.
“Grandpa Leo, I’m really very weak. You must be extremely disappointed.”
“Compared to me, everyone is very weak. What I want to see is not your current strength, but your qualities and will, so don’t worry about those things, you just have to fight with your full power. I’ll do everything else on my own.” Leo spoke extremely arrogantly, but everyone who knew about him would have no choice but to understand.
Even though he was already over 60 and heading towards 70, his muscles were still bulging. No signs of aging could be found within his body. It was possible because his level of existence and the dungeon were in harmony with his regular physical training.
“Little boy, fight with all your strength. Even if Leo looks like this, he isn’t the one to easily lose to someone while fighting halfheartedly.”
“I know. The entire continent knows!” Evan replied while pouting his lips at the teacher. Then he withdrew from Leo to put some space between them. He then took on the basic posture of Cheonjung.
‘No matter how much I look at him, if I make one wrong move, I’ll be seriously injured in the least. I need to be vigilant. I also need to avoid his attacks! And most of all, I need to clear my head and heart to win a fight with such a legend!’
As Evan looked at him seriously, a smile crept on Leo’s face.
“Hey, kid… It’s not that you don’t have any qualities. You’re already ridiculously strong, right? I knew it would be like this.”
“But he is still really weak compared to you, so go easy on him.”
“If this guy is weak, then I’ll stop calling myself strong!” Leo burst into laughter as he pulled out one of the long swords from the waist, then rushed straight towards Evan.
Even Bernard wasn’t quick enough to follow his movements completely at that moment, but Evan managed to catch them. He could clearly see where his sword was aiming.
Evan collected the mana of his whole body into his feet. The surrounding air sank heavily. This area was now the realm of heaven!
“Okay, then, let’s fight!”
“Please be gentle…!”
At that moment, Evan clenched both his fists with such force that it formed small waves in the air.
The legend and the little boy collided with such force that it created a huge shockwave in every direction.