Book 1 Chapter 974

974.

The week after the exam was peaceful.

There were even some professors who let students have self-study sessions.

Third-year Knight Department practical class.

Professor Ain was busy grading exams and with departmental work, so today was a self-study day.

The third-year students of the Knight Department spent their time freely in the training ground.

Some rested, while others gathered to play a light ball game.

"Lady Illiana is coming through!"

Illiana shouted cheerfully, clutching a ball under her arm, and charged towards the goal.

"Block her!"

The students defended against Illiana.

What the third-year students were playing was Baster, a popular sport in Lumen.

Of course, the game was being played using only pure physical ability, without the use of abilities.

By third year, matches proceeded at considerable speed even with pure physical ability.

Durand blocked Illiana's path.

Illiana grinned and quickly passed the ball to the side.

"Nice!"

"Go!"

Even the students watching were divided into teams and cheering enthusiastically.

Overall, the atmosphere was one of enjoying a break.

However, in the dueling arena behind the training ground, there were some who were seriously sparring.

It was none other than Leo and Celia.

Of the two facing each other with practice swords, Celia was the first to move.

Paat-!

Celia kicked off the ground and instantly closed the distance with Leo.

Leo swung his sword towards Celia's rapidly charging sword.

Chae-ang-!

Celia's rapier was deflected off its trajectory.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it.

The dagger in Celia's left hand, opposite to the one holding the rapier, was immediately swung, aiming for Leo's neck.

Leo lightly stepped back to avoid the attack.

Lowering her stance, Celia began to swing her sword at incredible speed.

She used sharp thrusts with her rapier to keep Leo's movements in check.

And inflicted an additional attack with her dagger on the rigid Leo.

Seeing this, Leo muttered to himself.

'She's changed her attack style a bit.'

Celia's main weapon was the rapier.

And to compensate for the rapier's shortcomings, she had learned dagger techniques as a secondary weapon.

But currently, Celia's primary attack weapon was the dagger.

The rapier was merely for feints and pressure.

Whir-!

The dagger rotated dazzlingly in Celia's hand.

Tak-!

Celia, holding the dagger in a reverse grip, aimed for Leo's neck as if to hook and pull.

When Leo dodged, this time the rapier aimed for his glabella.

The attack pattern had changed.

'Is the rapier the main offensive tool this time?'

The swordplay Leo remembered from Celia was flashy, designed to dazzle the opponent's eyes.

Her unique flamboyant swordplay combined with Gerdinger's aura had transformed into swordplay with overwhelming destructive power.

But her current swordplay, while seemingly flashy, was monotonous.

Yet, each strike was fatal.

Swordplay that pursued efficiency.

Ka-ang-!

Leo parried Celia's attack and dove in.

"Ugh!"

Celia gritted her teeth and swung her dagger to keep Leo, who was closing the distance, at bay.

But Leo, now on the offensive, began unleashing indiscriminate slashes.

Kagagagagagagagak-!

Sparks flew all around Celia.

She parried Leo's attacks with her rapier and dagger.

But each time, the heavy impact made her body sway, and her grip on her weapons felt like it would tear from the attacks.

Celia gritted her teeth and followed the trajectory of Leo's sword with her eyes.

To stably defend against Leo's attacks, she would have to abandon the dagger and hold the rapier with both hands.

But if she did that, she wouldn't be able to keep up with Leo's speed.

'I have to endure as much as possible!'

Celia bit her lip and fended off Leo's onslaught.

The pattern of serious spars with Leo was always the same.

Celia would take the initiative to attack first.

Then, she would lose the attack timing and endlessly block Leo's continuous attacks until Celia tired first and it ended.

She had sparred hundreds, thousands of times since she first met Leo, but the pattern remained consistent.

The only thing that had changed was that the time Celia spent blocking attacks had increased.

Kagagak-!

Leo's attacks continued relentlessly.

Each strike was almost a killing blow.

How much longer did she have to endure?

'No, do the attacks ever end?'

Celia couldn't know.

How should she break out of this situation?

Was enduring the only answer?

Kakakakakakakakak-!

Sparks flew dizzyingly before her eyes.

Leo's attacks were getting faster and faster.

Like a storm.

She was swept away by Leo's attacks.

'It's over.'

The countless sparring experiences she had before told her so.

But Celia gritted her teeth and did not give up.

The outcome was predetermined.

Even so, she did not break or give up.

Just like the unchanging results of their spars since her first year.

Celia's heart also remained unchanged.

She consistently pursued the back of her cousin before her eyes.

Will blazed in Celia's red eyes.

At that moment.

Kakakagak, Ka-aak! Ka-ang-! Ka-aang-!

"……?"

Leo's attack speed began to slow down.

'Huh?'

Celia felt bewildered.

Had Leo's attack ended?

But it had slowed too much to think that.

At that moment, Celia realized that her own movements had also slowed down.

'It's not that he's slowed down. My cognitive ability has sped up.'

Occasionally during combat, there were times when an opponent's movements seemed unusually large or their thoughts seemed clear.

But those were always closer to a 'feeling.'

There had never been a case where an opponent's movements were so clear that Celia could perceive them like this.

Celia, initially flustered by this unfamiliar phenomenon, soon discovered its cause.

'Extrasensory Perception.'

A technique she learned from Arion.

Among the various senses, Celia's vision had awakened.

But even so, it was an ability to predict an opponent's movements, and this was the first time her vision seemed to slow down.

'Whatever it is!'

Celia watched the movement of Leo's sword, which was clearly visible to her.

Because it appeared slow, the movement of the sword Leo wielded was vivid.

And things that were normally invisible became visible.

An exclamation of admiration naturally escaped her.

Because she could glimpse the incredibly high skill and mastery contained in Leo's sword.

Kagak-!

Celia parried Leo's sword.

For a moment, Leo's eyes twitched, catching Celia's vision.

With a single strike, she broke Leo's attack flow.

Celia's unexpected movement.

And the flow of the attack shifted to Celia.

It was the first time.

To break Leo's attack and counterattack in a sword-sparring match.

Shwik-!

Celia's dagger aimed for Leo.

Whack-!

Despite the unexpected attack, Leo dodged Celia's strike.

And at that moment, before Celia could react, Leo's empty hand grabbed Celia's neck.

"Kuh-huh?!"

Celia gasped for air fiercely.

Leo, whose body reacted instinctively, quickly let go.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Cough- cough- If that were a real fight, my neck would be broken, wouldn't it? You're still ruthless."

"But you're laughing?"

Leo looked dumbfounded at Celia, who was laughing even as she coughed.

Seeing Leo like that, Celia put on a refreshed expression.

"Of course I'm laughing! I succeeded in a counterattack against you!"

If the sparring involved aura, Celia wouldn't be unilaterally defeated either.

Of course, the overwhelming difference in combat power remained unchanged, but the situation was different from pure sword-sparring.

For a knight, swordplay is like a vessel.

No matter how powerful an aura one possesses, if the swordplay to contain that aura is lacking, there will inevitably be limitations.

Celia learned this fact through Leo.

And for the past three years, she had to realize the unbridgeable difference.

But now, she had taken one step closer to Leo.

She was trying her best to hold back from jumping up and down, as her heart desired.

"Did you see through my movements just now with extrasensory perception?"

"Oh? As expected of Leo. You noticed? Suddenly, everything I saw seemed to slow down."

"That's amazing, isn't it?"

When Leo expressed his admiration, Celia tilted her chin up and brushed her hair back.

Her expression was calm, but she couldn't seem to stop the corners of her mouth from curling up.

Seeing her like that, Leo chuckled and ruffled Celia's hair.

"Ack! What was that! Do you think I'm Chelsea!"

"Ah. Sorry. You're cute when you're happy."

"I've told you time and time again! My birthday is earlier than yours! Don't treat me like a child!"

Celia, whose pride was strong, flared up.

"Right. Right."

Leo nodded and put his sword back into its scabbard.

Celia also put away her rapier and dagger.

After returning their weapons to a corner of the dueling arena, they headed towards where their classmates were.

Even then, Celia looked down at her trembling hands, her face flushed.

"Ah, now that I think about it."

Leo took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Celia.

"Huh? What's with the letter?"

"It's for you."

"Then why do you have it?"

"Because sending it to the student council president is the fastest way. Congratulations."

"Why?"

"Your niece was born."

"What?! Lis oppa's baby was born?"

"Yes, yesterday."

Celia's face brightened as she took the letter and opened it.

The letter contained a small photo along with text stating that the baby was born yesterday.

It was a photo of Lis and Torua, and the twins born between them.

"Wow! Wow!"

"They're girls, and identical twins."

"They're so cute!"

Celia didn't know what to do as she looked at her two nieces with black hair, a sign of the Gerdinger lineage.

"You have to go to Gerdinger anyway for the noble family conference period, right? I arranged for you to go a bit earlier for family matters."

"Your work is clean, isn't it?"

Celia smiled brightly.

The noble family conference also affected Lumen.

This was because there were cases where students had to attend the noble family conference due to family circumstances.

So, some students went home during the noble family conference.

In Celia's case, as the noble family conference was hosted by Rodren, she had an obligation to participate as a direct descendant of Gerdinger, so she had to return home during the conference.

"Speaking of which, I heard from Abad."

Celia frowned.

"There's a rumor that a motion related to you, Leo, will be brought up at the noble family conference?"

"Looks like the rumors have already spread."

Leo chuckled.

Celia folded her arms, looking at Leo.

"What in the world is going on?"

"It's said that the number of external immigrants to the Arhi Kingdom has been increasing recently."

A new, fledgling kingdom.

Normally, it wouldn't be a nation prominent enough to stand out greatly.

But thanks to Arhi's founding king being Leo, immigrants from all over the world were continuously pouring in.

The problem was that the scale was quite large.

The world seemed peaceful, but Tartaros was stirring in various places.

The emergence of monsters and demons was rapidly increasing.

Thanks to that, there were nations that were faltering.

There are countless nations in the world.

While there are powerful and substantial nations like Rodren and Shan, there are also many small, peripheral nations like Leo's hometown, the Delian Kingdom.

And not all of them possess heroes, or talents comparable to heroes.

Heroes are said to be those who transform and lead the world.

But what a person can handle is only those in front of them.

In the case of nations with sound foundations, they did not falter even with the increased appearance of monsters and demons.

They had the power to protect their own people.

But the confusion in nations accustomed to peace was greater than expected.

Externally by Tartaros.

Internally, the number of nations imposing more taxes on their citizens under the pretext of stopping Tartaros was also increasing.

As a result, people began to leave in search of safe places.

Among them, the Arhi Kingdom was the most strongly imprinted in people's minds.

'This phenomenon didn't exist 5,000 years ago.'

Unlike 5,000 years ago, the world is now intimately connected.

News travels fast, and if one has some leeway, it's not a very difficult task to travel from one end of the world to the other because of warp gates.

That's why immigrants flocked to the Arhi Kingdom, which could be called a remote region at the western end of the world.

Monsters and demons did not appear in Arhi.

Furthermore, it was perceived as a new land of opportunity.

Normally, giving up one's established foundation and choosing to emigrate wouldn't be easy, but if the world is in chaos, the story is different.

However, some viewed this trend with disapproval.

These were the owners of the lands where the immigrants used to live.

Even if one could emigrate to another country, it would be difficult without a certain level of economic power.

Losing citizens with such economic power to foreign countries meant a loss of national strength.

"That's strange. Restricting legitimate immigration is a violation of international law."

"Usually, those in power don't like losing money."

"Just ignore it. It's good for you, isn't it?"

"I can't ignore it. A large number of immigrants isn't a good trend."

While not refugees, a large number of immigrants itself means the world is in chaos.

"So? Are you going to accept what the protesting factions are saying?"

"I didn't say I'd accept it."

Leo said calmly.

"Ultimately, it's a problem that arises because they don't do their job properly."

"That's right."

"Then we should make them do their job properly."

Leo smiled faintly.

Seeing that smile, Celia thought.

'He means he'll retaliate if they mess with him.'

Celia sighed softly.

'This noble family conference is going to be noisy.'