146: The Sword of Irene Pareira (4)
“A little unfortunate.”
Although he said it was ‘a little,’ there were a lot of emotions in the eyes of the priest.
He had been in contact with her for the past 10 months, but it had been several years since the girl was indirectly affected by it.
The time had come for such a long and painstaking harvest to bear fruits, but it failed completely.
‘It has become so clear that it doesn’t exist within her.’
It was strange.
The priest turned his head from Ilya Lindsay.
A young man with amazing skills, but he stood clumsily with a mischievous smile.
Seeing that existence that had been the talk of Eisenmarkt for the past few months, he mumbled.
“This won’t do.”
If possible, he wanted to see greater bliss in his work, but to be honest, he wasn’t sure if he could even try anymore.
The end product just wasn’t complete.
And he couldn’t help it, so he decided to focus on what he had to do now.
The priest, who thought that shook his head in disappointment and stood up.
“Ah what!”
“Ah, you! You’ll hit someone…”
As there was a huge crowd that wanted to get closer to the swordsmen, the collision couldn’t be avoided.
In fact, some people even said threatening words to the priest.
But that was all.
They looked at the priest’s face, who tried to look expressionless but was clearly angry, and then not caring, they turned to the stage and shouted.
“Irene Pareira!”
“Irene Pareia! New champion!”
It wasn’t just the general audience.
Veteran journalists who were publishing gladiator stories for years or more were the same.
And so were the king-level gladiators.
Even those who suffered a humiliating defeat by Irene Pareira, poured out their heartfelt congratulations.
Even the ex-champion Ricardo Pinto did, and this was a natural thing for him.
It was because the higher Irene went, the more his pride was restored.
‘That last light was definitely an Aura Sword… That young man can now be called a Sword Master.’
Right.
The champion was defeated by a Sword Master, not an Expert.
The strange thing was that these young people were at a level that was unbelievable for their age.
‘One is 22 and the other 19…’
Phew.
He sighed.
But even more worrisome was how he would deal with his father.
‘To pay for the broken sword, I have no choice but to train like hell and turn into a Master, if not….’
I might die.
Ricardo Pinto nodded his head as he thought about Harrison Pinto, the Sword Master who would train him despite being over 70.
Well, today was supposed to be an auspicious day as a new Sword Master was born.
In the midst of these complicated emotions, he clasped his hands.
And there was another one;
Judith, who had been watching Irene train for the longest, felt as complex as Ricardo.
‘I don’t… feel too good.’
It was strange.
Even when Irene was being cornered, she was clearly cheering for him.
She kept screaming in her mind praying that Irene would hold on and create an opportunity to strike back.
However, a golden light came out from the great sword, and then as it was sucked back, a new sword formed.
With that, Irene changed into someone different and defeated Ilya Lindsay, and an unknown feeling tugged her heart.
… she knew the truth.
It wasn’t the first time, but this was a feeling she felt each time she saw him recently.
“He won! He won! Irene won!”
“Hehe, to defeat a Sword Master for real…”
“What? Kuvar! Did you think Irene would lose? He told you that he would definitely win 4 months back! Didn’t you believe him?”
“No, kuak!”
“You idiot! Sea fish! Sea anemone!”
“Euk, stop…”
Lulu was attacking him with her paws, but Kuvar smiled, and they were all in a good mood.
And seeing this, Judith couldn’t help but smile.
The appearance of Irene during the match, who moved subtly as if he was one with the sword.
The golden aura at the end which broke Ilya Lindsay’s sword.
After pondering for a long time, she turned her head at the thought which suddenly popped into her mind. And looked at Bratt.
“…”
He was drawing something quickly, like a person possessed by something, without looking elsewhere.
Judith’s heart fluttered again.
What was Bratt drawing?
What did he feel that was making him so focused?
Lulu jumped ahead and asked.
“Judith? What is it?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t look right? Are you sick?”
“… No.”
“Then do you want to rest?”
“No. I was in my own thoughts for a while. My expressions aren’t good, but I feel nice!”
Judith smiled broadly.
Or rather, she tried to do it, but it didn’t work.
So, she pulled on her face from both sides, trying to make a huge smile, and Bratt, who was done, closed his book and said.
“Stop it, it’s ugly.”
Puck!
Bratt, who was hit in his arm, groaned.
He knew that he would be hit for that remark, but not this hard.
As he was puzzled, Judith got up from her seat.
A much brighter face but filled with heavy emotions.
And she said cheerfully.
“Let’s go! Let’s go and get the party started!”
“Party!”
“Right! Irene is the champion now, so we can’t just let this day slide. Mr. John Drew, can we take your place?”
“Uh? Ah, yes.”
John Drew, who was looking at the stage blankly, nodded his head.
In terms of strength, he knew that he was inferior to king-level gladiators, but he was confident in his skills to analyze the movements and abilities of others.
For him, this match was a realization.
To the extent that he thought that it could be a new framework in his swordsmanship style, which hadn’t progressed for a while.
‘I was in the teaching position, but I learned a lot more.’
Party?
Of course, that had to be done.
It didn’t matter what the cost was. He was going to throw an eye-popping celebration!
As he was in thought, something fell on his lap.
Clank!
“Thank you, teacher! A special bonus! Let’s get this party-ready!”
“…”
Seeing the black cat give him endless gold and silver treasures, John Drew began to turn scared.
Two days after the match.
Eisenmarkt was overflowing with people talking about the match.
One of the fastest people to be a Sword Master and the other who turned into a Sword Master during the match.
Even though he was 22, he was still 3 years faster than the schoolmaster of Krono.
How could the talks about the end of confrontation of such great swordsmen end in a day or two!
The villagers literally talked about it from day to night.
People who watched the match would drink and speak about It, and those who heard it would lament over it and burst into admiration.
However, not everyone had a positive review of it.
A weekly magazine suggested that the match was absurd.
[Irene Pareira, becoming champion, is it justified?]
[It doesn’t make sense to allow magic swords in the arena.]
[If the swords were swapped, the victory and defeat would change… rematch.]
The Land of Proof permits the swordsman to use the sword they possess, and they don’t disallow them to use their own swords.
It was because they knew that the perfect sword for a swordsman is the one they find for themselves, and it was said that no swords with artifacts that enhance the performance could be used.
Like it was forbidden to shoot sparks or use lightning from a sword, but there were no restrictions with durability or sharpness of swords.
And that was why Irene’s sorcery sword was allowed.
However, a light flashed during the match.
And the sword changed, which changed the flow of the match from then, and that meant it undoubtedly would be questioned.
Moreover, regardless of right and wrong, there were many people who agreed to the opinion of a ‘rematch,’ and that stayed on the lips.
The organizers were even thinking about the rematch seriously.
However, that didn’t happen.
It was because Ilya Lindsay, who never got involved with the media, expressed her thoughts on a match for the first time.
[The match was fair. Victory and defeat had nothing to do with a sword’s performance, and I accept the defeat.]
At that, people couldn’t bring up the issue anymore.
In that way, Irene Pareira was safely crowned as the new champion of Land of Proof, and Eisenmarkt was back to its peaceful atmosphere.
Swik!
“She declined all interviews.”
“Eik!”
Not every place was peaceful.
Was it because she was vocal for the first time?
Reporters thought that they could get additional interviews with her and tried to enter the mansion of the former champion Ilya Lindsay.
And with that, her escort Emma Garcia refused them several times, and when they kept coming back, she exuded tremendous energy to scare them off.
Despite that, some people kept going back, which was tiring for her.
‘Those who visited more than 3 times, I should break one of them.’
Or maybe she should be harsher?
If the reporters knew what she was thinking, they would never come again, but someone came.
However, now, she couldn’t show the cold and vicious face.
A person she couldn’t treat rudely.
The girl’s friend and the one who defeated her… so Emma wasn’t sure how to treat him.
At the appearance of Irene Pareira, Emma Garcia said.
“… what did you come here for?”
“I am here to see Ilya Lindsay.”
“Not allowed.”
“Aren’t you going to tell her I’m here?”
“I would. But my lady told me in advance. I don’t want to see anyone for a week. Including Mr. Irene Pareira.”
“Then, I guess there is nothing I can do.”
Irene nodded his head.
He understood it.
He knew that the darkness in her heart had disappeared, but that wouldn’t make her happy right away.
She was probably having a lot of thoughts and worries. And needed some time alone.
Of course, as he came all the way here, he couldn’t just leave her without doing anything.
Irene pulled something out, and Emma who saw it, asked.
“What is this?”
“A gift and a letter.”
“…”
She looked at the letter.
It was quite thick.
A day, or maybe more, was devoted to writing it.
‘… I guess he really is a friend.’
Her eyes softened, and Emma Garcia took the letter.
“I will pass it on.”
“Thank you.”
“And you said there is a gift?”
“Ah. A Half lie.”
“?”
“But the other half is the truth.”
Emma frowned again. She wanted to tell Irene to not play around.
However, Irene smiled and said,
“If she is curious about the gift. Ask her to come to John Drew’s mansion.”
“…”
“I will give it to her in person. Please tell her that I want to talk to her face to face.”