259. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - Thieving Cat? (8)
259. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - Thieving Cat? (8)
***
"Could we talk for a moment?"
Serin had just settled into the spectator seats during the break when a player approached her, and she gave a calm nod.
The player now in her view had a rather distinctive appearance.
Light sky-blue hair hung down to his waist, and the delicate face beneath it could have been called prettier than most women's without any awkwardness.
'No, but he's a guy.'
She found it odd that a man would go for that kind of character customization, but she didn't bother voicing it.
She figured it was just his own kind of individuality.
Pat.
After that, she fixed her gaze on Astolfo as he took the seat right beside her.
Her look seemed to ask what he'd come for, and Hamin answered with a soft smile.
"It's nothing special. I just came over because I was personally curious. It's not like I'm going to ask Rin anything difficult, so don't worry."
At his reassuring tone, Serin answered with a slight dip of her head.
Even though her attitude could have come across as rude, Hamin didn't mind at all.
"Were you originally a Knight Class user? If it's uncomfortable to answer, you don't have to. I'm only asking because you handle a sword so well."
He asked in a gentle voice, and Serin answered evenly, without any change in expression.
"I didn't play Knight Class or anything. I've just handled a sword a bit before."
She added no lie to it, and no exaggeration either.
"Then... you really have only ever played Dancer Class?"
"Yes. That's right."
Serin answered immediately, as if it were the simple truth, and Hamin blinked blankly.
'So her talent alone is at an absurd level.'
He'd been uncertain while watching the match, but he'd still leaned toward thinking she might have originally been a Knight Class player who switched to Dancer.
That was the direction his thoughts had been tilting. But the answer he'd just heard was unexpected.
She handled a sword that well despite only ever playing Dancer Class.
Without any of the sword-related adjustments or comprehension support that came with the Knight Class, this was simply her reality.
As Hamin sat there stunned for a moment, Serin asked with perfect nonchalance.
"Why? Is something weird?"
Hamin shook his head blankly.
As he shook his head, his light sky-blue hair swayed with the motion, giving off a brilliant shine.
Serin, who had been glancing at him without thinking, felt a strange sensation.
'No, seriously, I can't get used to this.'
His appearance was just that of a pretty woman no matter how you looked at it, but he was actually a man.
Even facing him directly like this, the disconnect was palpable.
Even under Serin's gaze, Hamin spoke as if newly impressed.
"I guess truly talented people really do exist. To handle a Crescent-Moon Weight and a one-handed sword so well—two weapons with completely different characteristics."
At the unexpected praise, Serin added offhandedly, as if it were nothing.
"Ah, I'm pretty good with a greatsword too."
When Serin said there was one more, Hamin let out a small laugh.
"Then you're even more... impressive, Rin."
"Well, it's nothing special. You just do it and it works."
At Rin's absurd answer, Hamin looked at her, wondering if she was messing with him, but Rin was completely composed.
As if she truly meant that you just do it and it works.
"Ah, by the way, what should I call you? Should I use your player name?"
As the conversation continued, Serin casually asked about how to address him, and Hamin answered without much thought.
"Just call me whatever's comfortable for you, Rin. My real name is fine too."
"You know that kind of answer is really unhelpful for the person asking, right?"
"Ah, is that so? Then how about Hamin?"
Hamin looked at Serin and spoke a bit more warmly, but Serin let out a small laugh and shook her head.
"No. Never mind. I'll just call you Astolfo."
At her contrarian answer, Hamin blinked.
Then why did you ask? His look seemed to say as he stared at Serin, but she simply turned her gaze elsewhere, as if it were nothing.
'What's with her? Why does she keep staring like that?'
It kept bothering her.
In one part of the spectator seats, not far away. There was a blue-haired female knight who had been staring at her persistently for a while now.
Even now, that gaze fixed on her was boring into her face as if it might drill a hole through it.
Serin wondered why she was staring like that, and then a thought struck her.
'Did I get too deep under her skin in match two?'
Once that thought occurred to her, it made sense, and she clicked her tongue without thinking.
"Tsk, tsk."
She'd deliberately gotten under her skin because she was the type whose mental was a weakness, but seeing her still sulking about it like this.
She really wondered if she was actually a pro player.
When a match is over, you shake it off. Watching her glare like that with such a petty grudge was really unprofessional.
While Serin was entertaining those off-base thoughts.
Hamin, seated beside her, was thinking something entirely different.
'Her swordsmanship is definitely top-tier.'
Was Rin stronger when using a sword than when using the Crescent-Moon Weight?
When that thought crossed his mind, it left him with a strange feeling.
In the previous match, Rin wielding a sword had been strong and had left a special impact in and of itself.
Other players had struggled, lost anticlimactically, and the actual results had been defeats for everyone.
But still, he found himself wondering if she wasn't stronger with the Crescent-Moon Weight in hand.
What he wanted now was to face her at full strength. If possible, he wished it would be with the Crescent-Moon Weight.
"Rin, you know I'm your opponent in the next match, right?"
"Yes."
When Rin answered calmly, Hamin carefully broached the subject.
"Then this is just a small request. When you face me, could you use the Crescent-Moon Weight instead of a sword?"
No matter how much he thought about it, he believed she'd be stronger with the Crescent-Moon Weight.
And making Hamin's deliberation pointless, Serin answered far too readily.
"Sure. That's fine."
"Thank you."
Hamin smiled brightly and thanked her, and Serin found herself looking at him, wondering if that answer was really something to be so happy about.
Actually, since the other players besides Mina were using swords, she'd considered facing them with Durandal more meaningful, but the person she was talking to now wasn't a sword-wielding knight.
He was a spearman who used a massive spear.
There was no need to insist on a sword against him.
***
Break time.
"...What's wrong with her?"
Seojin found it strange that Mina was trembling all over in one part of the spectator seats, and Sihyeon and Yena's gazes followed his toward Mina.
"Yeah, she looks really angry. Was losing the match that frustrating?"
Sihyeon answered as he looked at Mina, and Yena, watching Mina, unconsciously followed the direction of her gaze.
Rin had taken a seat in the spectator area during the break, and she could see her now exchanging words with Hamin.
And in a rather friendly atmosphere at that.
"Pfft..."
Seeing that, Yena twisted her lips into a smirk, as if she understood exactly why Mina was acting that way.
And it was a crooked smile with obvious intent.
"She really is foolish, in a way that doesn't match her looks."
"What's foolish?"
Sihyeon asked as if he didn't understand, and Yena quickly smoothed her expression and shook her head.
"Ah, it's nothing."
Yena saw no need to explain the answer.
'Serves her right.'
Yena, who was normally at odds with her, was all the happier the more Mina trembled.
"..."
And Mina, who couldn't hear any of their words, was clenching her hands as if to crush them, staring holes through Serin and Hamin.
Grind.
Watching while quietly grinding her teeth, Mina was utterly consumed with resentment.
Jealousy toward the two of them chatting so amicably. And burning fury at herself for losing the match.
Those two emotions were now raging endlessly inside her.
'If only I... if only I hadn't lost the match.'
If she hadn't.
Then she could have walked right up to those two talking so pleasantly and said something, anything. But having lost the match so anticlimactically, she couldn't bring herself to approach them now.
A loser.
In her own mind right now, she was nothing more than a loser.
A loser who could only watch, seething, as Hamin exchanged words with that woman named Rin.
She saw the woman, like a pure-white thieving cat, suddenly staring straight at her.
"..."
She wanted to tell them to stop talking, to get away from each other. But she swallowed those words and was glaring intensely when.
She saw the woman's indifferent gaze turn toward her, openly wearing a look of displeasure.
—Tsk, tsk.
Then, when she outright clicked her tongue at her, Mina felt something inside her snap, and she blinked blankly.
Afterward, when Hamin said something to her, she wiped that expression away and answered brightly.
Grind...!
Mina, unable to just grind her teeth any longer, bit down on her lip and trembled with fury.
'Is that bitch openly seducing Hamin right now?'
It looked as if she were brazenly trying to steal Hamin away right in front of her.
Even that tongue-click just now.
It was as if she were flaunting herself, acting superior.
No, now that she thought about it, everything was strange.
Even the way she'd suddenly spoken to her in the arena as if provoking her—now that she thought about it, that was strange too.
—If you end up losing in such a pathetic way, I think the one person watching right now would certainly be... disappointed.
The way she'd openly brought up Hamin at the end, as if deliberately making her aware of him.
She'd heard that Rin refused scrims with any team other than G1, and yet here she was scrimming with them, a team already eliminated from the playoffs—that was all strange too.
"..."
Mina felt a tremendous sense of crisis, as if a chain of assumptions were linking together.
'Could that fox-like bitch have been after Hamin from the very beginning?'
She'd seemed indifferent and cold in the arena, but now, talking with Hamin, the atmosphere felt subtly relaxed.
Her thoughts were now swelling uncontrollably.
Afterward, Mina's glare at her grew even more murderous.
Serin met Mina's gaze as if it were nothing.
And from Hamin's perspective, when Serin's gaze suddenly turned elsewhere mid-conversation, he followed it to see what was going on.
"...!"
The moment Hamin's gaze turned toward her, Mina smoothed her expression as if she'd never been glaring at all.
"Ha."
At her sudden change in attitude, Serin let out a small, incredulous laugh.
Flinch!
Mina, who had clearly seen it, felt her eyes twitch violently.
"..."
A determination took root inside Mina: no matter what, she absolutely had to win the next match.