I Was Kidnapped for Marriage by the Khan of the Nomadic Elves - Chapter 3: Meeting the Guardian Captain
She had come to meet Khan Ashtien.
“......”
She was also curious about Vesta’s match. Her gaze secretly checked his complexion.
Vesta gave a playful, gloomy expression. Of course, Ahor was not the type to fall for such shallow acting.
“Hah. Swordsmanship is excellent, but your acting is quite lacking.”
“Ah. Got caught.”
“You suffered a great deal.”
“Hm. Did you smile?”
“I didn’t smile.”
Ahor was a woman with few facial changes, yet this time she seemed oddly brighter.
“I believed you would win easily against Vesta-nim.”
“Really?”
“Yes. No doubt whatsoever. The entire tribe must have thought the same. At the very least, Khan-nim and Bia, Uushun thought so too.”
Trust filled Ahor’s eyes. Perhaps one day Vesta would look at her with those same eyes.
We have already reached the stage of trusting each other.
-It’s almost half a year since we arrived on the steppe.
Coming at the beginning of spring, she was already preparing for summer. Somehow the time spent on the steppe felt vague and distant.
After a fresh conversation with Ahor, they arrived at the place where Uushun was waiting.
Uushun greeted Khan Ashtien with utmost politeness. Ashtien received the greeting without the slightest stiffness, then Vesta shot forward.
“Uushun!”
“Vesta-nim!”
Vesta and Uushun clapped palms.
“Did the match end well? You won, right?”
“Haha! Why ask again? Of course. I completely overwhelmed him.”
From behind, the waiting elves murmured.
-He really overwhelmed him?
-Isn’t that a bit much?
-Her veins almost burst!
-I thought it was going to explode!
The back was noisy. When Uushun turned her head with a displeased look, the elves burst into laughter once more.
-It was amazing!
-Honestly, no one but the captain could do that.
-Honestly, I didn’t think it would burst. He’s no ordinary human.
“Honestly, it was tough, but I still didn’t lose and won cleanly.”
“As expected, I believed it.”
She had been half-and-half. No, could a human actually wrestle with a centaur?
‘I’ll hide the fact that I saw it as half-and-half.’
[Yes. No doubt whatsoever. The entire tribe must have thought the same. At the very least, Khan-nim and Bia, Uushun thought so too.]
Ahor’s words made Vesta’s conscience prick uncomfortably.
“There were no injuries?”
With a gentler demeanor than usual, Vesta spoke to Uushun. Uushun tilted her head.
“I’m fine. Rather, shouldn’t I be the one worrying? Vesta-nim went to a much more dangerous duel.”
Uushun wore an expression that seemed dumbfounded, as if a little one was worrying about someone else.
“Why do you worry about me? You know my skill.”
Vesta puffed up proudly, as if boasting to a friend.
-Wow. It seems the young lord won!
-Whoa! Congratulations!
Elves giggled. Vesta felt a bit deflated and lost. He had always been somewhat weak to older sisters.
‘I can’t hold back strongly.’
Vesta himself did not know the reason, but there was a story behind it. First, Vesta was a rootless orphan raised without parents.
When he was still very young, before becoming a gladiator, he was raised under the care of the waitresses working in the arena.
Experiences in childhood often became roots of a person. He could only show weakness toward women.
Uushun? She was more like a sturdy neighborhood brother to Vesta than a woman, so there was no issue.
‘This fact must never leave my mouth.’
If Uushun had heard his inner thoughts, she would have given him a refreshing fist.
“I thought you would say so. I know Vesta-nim’s skill well.”
She had fought joint tactics with Vesta. In truth, she knew his ability better than anyone in the tribe.
“It was amazing.”
Ashtien approached and patted Vesta’s back.
“If I had seen it with my own eyes, I would have been startled. The Baatar played the match so entertainingly.”
The gladiator-style response worked perfectly.
Uushun, still a bit regretful, said she would go to watch if there was a chance.
“Yes. This match is not the end. There will be more to come.”
“Is that so? Your goal must be high.”
“I fight as I can.”
Vesta answered nonchalantly. Uushun was slightly impressed.
“By the time you descend from the mountains, all the centaurs will be calling your name—Vesta, or rather, Baatar-nim’s.”
“That’s the purpose, but…”
“I will cheer for you. If you win a big prize, I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Of course.”
*
He stepped forward. He was facing the duel arena once again.
“Now this is getting familiar.”
He faced the centaur warrior. The opponent’s expression looked quite rigid.
Of course. He must have carried a heavy burden too. If he lost to Vesta, the centaur would bear the shame of losing to a human.
He should rather be grateful that he had accepted the match.
‘That is the honor of the centaurs.’
Refusing the duel. Believing every duel was destiny.
‘He might have thought I was an easy opponent.’
Vesta could not know that far.
“The warrior who raised the white flag! That human warrior!”
The introduction stretched because he had won several times.
“Undefeated record so far: four wins, zero losses!”
He fought every two or three days. He wanted to fight more, but he adjusted the number of matches because he had to think of his body.
Even if the centaur’s attacks did not land directly, they carried considerable shock. If he fought without rest, his bones might snap at any moment.
‘This is an incredibly tight schedule.’
To draw the crowd’s attention, he had to push himself a little.
Vesta looked around the spectator seats.
The number of people watching the match had increased dramatically. Centaurs who normally would not accept human surrender had stepped forward out of curiosity.
They stared at Vesta with suspicion.
Vesta knew the audience always doubted warriors. Sometimes they demanded proof so much it felt irresponsible.
Proof was like a shackle and never ended.
‘But for today’s fight, I can claim victory.’
What Vesta could do was only build today’s proof.
The more victories and proofs he stacked, the clearer his name would become.
Or rather, the name Baatar would shine with crimson light.
*
It was the fifth match, yet he still had not grown completely familiar with it.
Bia barely swallowed the sigh she wanted to let out.
-I want to fight together.
Standing quietly waiting for victory did not suit her.
-But I have to believe. I have to believe in the promise.
And I have to believe in the boy’s courage. Bia turned her attention back to the match.
Vesta did not move much. He generously yielded the initiative and carefully observed the opponent’s movements.
This time the opponent did not blindly charge. Unlike previous warriors, he seemed cautious in temperament.
-He may have felt threatened by Vesta.
Vesta was no longer a powerless human warrior. He had won his previous battles. Not once, but four wins. That was no longer a result he could obtain by luck.
‘A troublesome opponent. That’s what he’ll think.’
The warrior could not easily charge forward and hesitated.
Instant reactions erupted from the spectator seats.
-You’re scared!
-What are you doing with such timid tactics!
The spectators’ jeers pressed on the warrior’s shoulders. Anxiety appeared on the warrior’s face. It was a good start.
Vesta must have wanted exactly this start.
‘Because he has a personality thorough in battle.’
Vesta would never attempt the initiative. In fact, he waited for the opponent’s attack with a relaxed appearance.
A seasoned figure forcing the opponent to choose. It looked like he was using every possible advantage.
The warrior, unable to overcome his burden, began to move first.
-He’s smiling.
Vesta gave a very faint smile.
He fought with flamboyance. He evaded the centaur warrior’s attacks with excessive movements.
There was more.
*Thud-*
-Blocked!
On the spectator seats, uproar broke out as the centaur warrior’s attack was parried.
“No way.”
It was not a parry. It was a sidestep. The two were entirely different. How could a boy of Vesta’s caliber block a centaur warrior’s attack weighing hundreds of kilograms?
Only because Vesta’s sword moved with extraordinary subtlety, it deceived the eyes of the warriors.
‘Am I getting used to it?’
To the centaurs. To the steppe’s top-tier warriors.
‘He is developing more and more.’
Vesta’s sword seemed to be probing a deep realm to understand the centaur race’s characteristics.
If he had talent, it was not for swordsmanship.
“If there is any.”
Vesta only thought of dueling talent.
Bia felt a small, yet unmistakable thrill.
Vesta would win today.
Perhaps, in the future too.
“Morning win. Undefeated.”
At the same time Bia spoke, the centaur warrior fell.
Vesta already raised his fist and turned his back.