Mother of the Earth - 5
The atmosphere in the arena had turned ice-cold.
Marianne refusing the royal knight order’s invitation had been fine enough, but her subsequent remarks were the problem. She had belittled her opponent by comparing him to a specific person.
I could even look on it favorably, thinking she had become quite bold. But the moment my name was mentioned, I completely lost my composure.
“I-Is that so? It would seem this Bern fellow is your master, then.”
“No, he’s not?”
I was already quite flustered, yet Marianne only piled more confusion on top of it. Daimus forced a smile, but the veins on his forehead stood out clearly. His status and honor had been sullied in a single instant.
Yet he did not challenge Marianne to a duel. Was he broad-minded? Or had he simply judged that he could not defeat her? The answer came soon enough.
“Might the person you spoke of be present here?”
This was not good. It seemed he intended to shift the blame for Marianne’s mistake onto me. Unaware of Daimus’s true intentions, Marianne began looking around.
Sensing I was about to get dragged into something troublesome, I quietly rose from my seat to slip away. But before I could escape, Marianne spotted me and waved. Daimus was smiling faintly.
This left me with no choice but to step forward. The other party was one of the knight commanders of the Holden Kingdom. If I ignored him and fled, troublesome matters would surely follow later.
Scratching the back of my head, I advanced. Stepping onto the safety fence of the spectator seats, I leaped into the center of the arena.
“Hup!”
Landing lightly on the sandy floor, I approached the two of them.
“Bern! I… Ow!”
I chopped Marianne on the forehead with the edge of my hand as she greeted me joyfully. I knew there was no malice, but it was the price for causing me trouble.
“I never imagined Teacher would personally come out for me.”
“This friend here said something ridiculous, didn’t she? Of course I have to take responsibility and come explain.”
“Even so, as a champion’s judgment, aren’t you being a bit harsh?”
“Haha! No matter how outstanding I may be, how could I compare to a knight commander of the kingdom? It was merely the words of a child who still doesn’t know the ways of the world, so I hope you can generously overlook it.”
“You need not worry. It’s not as if my pride was particularly wounded. However…”
Shing—!
Daimus casually drew his sword. I could tell his intention without him saying a word.
“I wish to personally experience the skills of the teacher the champion mentioned, and receive instruction.”
He was beating around the bush, but in the end he simply could not accept it. Naturally. How could a knight commander not be angry when told he was weaker than someone he had never even heard of? The fact that he hadn’t ground his teeth and gone on a rampage was already impressive.
“Will you accept?”
“…Understood.”
Just as in Daimus’s earlier match, I stepped back ten paces. He gripped his one-handed sword with both hands and faced me.
In the novel, Daimus was a character who used sword and shield. Him not using a shield wasn’t arrogance so much as a pure desire to face me with the sword alone. Daimus’s personality was diligent and sincere, far removed from arrogance.
What am I going to do about this…?
[Is there some problem?]
The opponent wants a real sword fight, but I can’t draw my sword.
[What problem is there with using this body?]
There are too many problems, that’s the issue.
Drawing a magic sword in front of a knight commander of a kingdom that pursues divinity? I would immediately become a target for purge rather than a sparring partner. So I would have to borrow a rental sword from the arena, but…
[Contractor, not long ago you achieved Shingeomhapil with this body, and now you intend to have an affair with some other bitch?!]
What do you mean ‘other bitch’… It’s a sword, not a woman.
[That is something you say because you truly do not know! All swords in this world are females who wish to be used by someone! And you would use a promiscuous sword that gets passed around to all sorts of people without even an owner? As this body’s husband, that is utterly unacceptable!]
I only said I’d use it for a moment.
[Even a one-night stand is an unforgivable affair!]
With Frach fiercely opposing like this, I couldn’t pick up another sword. She had generously looked the other way in the previous arena match. I supposed her possessiveness had grown stronger after we formally established our relationship.
Left with no choice, I took a stance empty-handed.
“Teacher, will you not draw the sword at your waist?”
“Ah, well, there are circumstances I cannot speak of here.”
“Is that so…”
Daimus’s brow furrowed. Seeing the scabbard, he had assumed I was a swordsman like himself and challenged me. But my attitude of fighting barehanded without using a sword seemed to displease him. I truly felt sorry about that part.
[Hmph! An opponent of that level can be sufficiently dealt with by you alone without drawing this body.]
I shouldn’t underestimate him. He’s the youngest knight commander, and a genius on par with Kang Junhyuk.
[I occasionally ask out of curiosity, but what do you think of yourself?]
Me? I’m just Bern. Someone who can use the sword and magic fairly well.
[Haa…! You are unable to objectively assess your own level. In that sense, this fight will be an opportunity to reflect on yourself. First, fight.]
Frach’s deep sigh reached me. Was I really that strong? Holding that question, I responded to the charging Daimus.
“What the…”
A few seconds later, I realized why Frach had said that. At my feet, Daimus was curled up, clutching his head. He had been struck in his vital points by me and rendered combat-incapable.
[See? Did this body not say so? An opponent you can sufficiently handle without this body’s help.]
Yeah…
It wasn’t that Daimus was weak. His movements were free of excess, and I could feel the long-honed essence in his swordsmanship. He was just slow. More precisely, he felt ridiculously slow to me.
Not quite slow motion, but a level where I could see and react with my eyes. By lowering my head or twisting my body, I could easily dodge his sword strikes. The sword cutting through the air created a momentary opening, and I drove my fist toward his vital points.
Lacking Marianne’s merciless raw power, I couldn’t end it in one blow. But a fist striking vital points was not an attack even a knight commander could ignore. Struck continuously in his vitals, around the fifth fatal blow, strength left Daimus’s legs and he collapsed.
And that was the scene before me now.
It ended surprisingly anticlimactically.
[But it will look different in the eyes of others.]
Having finished the fight, I could finally pay attention to the external reactions.
“Wooooah! Insane!”
“He defeated the kingdom’s second-ranked knight commander? Barehanded?”
“And he didn’t even take a single effective hit before taking him down! Does that make sense?”
“Who the hell is he?”
Thunderous cheers rose as all eyes focused on me. It was an even more intense reaction than when Marianne became champion. It felt like the main point had been completely lost.
But Marianne beamed and clung to me.
“I knew Bern would win easily!”
“I’m grateful for the trust, but don’t do that again.”
“I’m sorry about that. The Lord God commanded me to do so, so I couldn’t refuse.”
“…The Earth Mother Goddess ordered it?”
“Yes. She threatened that if the ungrateful one who stole her power couldn’t endure even this much of a trial, she would not forgive him…”
“Well, that can’t be helped.”
I had stuck a straw into Marianne without permission and sucked up her power, so of course she’d be angry.
“So what does the Earth Mother Goddess say about the result just now?”
“Hmm. She doesn’t have anything particular to say right now.”
It bothered me, but I didn’t particularly want to poke a god’s nerves. I decided to put off apologizing to the Earth Mother Goddess for later and just wanted to leave the arena first. The countless gazes and praises directed at me were becoming burdensome.
The arena staff were whispering among themselves in the back, plotting something. If I dragged this out, they might force an event match between me and Marianne, or persistently try to recruit me as a gladiator.
“Let’s go, Marianne. We can talk about the rest outside the arena…”
“P-Please wait a moment!”
A hand grabbed my ankle as I tried to leave. It was Daimus, clutching the solar plexus where I had hit him, gasping for breath. Was he not accepting the result? I had not the slightest desire to fight him again, so I tried to shake off his hand.
“Teacher, I have a request…!”
“I’m truly sorry, but I’m busy and don’t take private requests.”
“It’s not a private request! Together with me, stop the Magic Tower’s ambitions… Guh!”
Daimus couldn’t finish his sentence and lost consciousness. Normally I would have left him to the arena people and gone, but I couldn’t do that now.
The Magic Tower.
I had just heard that this garbage dump of a place was causing trouble again.