Chapter 121: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (6)
The misuse of the “bad” wind magic was the cause.
As a punishment, I ended up accompanying Hong Yeon-hwa to the infirmary.
Not only was a bump protruding on one side of Hong Yeon-hwa’s forehead, but it was also swelling increasingly larger; fortunately, it healed almost immediately after the ointment and healing magic were applied in the infirmary.
But Hong Yeon-hwa slowly caressed the area where she hit as if she still felt a tingling numbness.
I said while looking at her.
“Let’s go back to the arena.”
“Ah, Mhmm ...”
“If you really feel off, take a rest. I’ll talk to senior-nim.”
“No, I’ll go, to the arena.”
Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head vigorously.
She wasn’t really in bad condition, but taking a break would surely result in a smack from Hong Ye-hwa’s backhand.
Therefore, we continued on our way to the arena to finish our mentoring session.
And I soon realized something.
This kid has reverted back to being timid.
In the past few weeks, Hong Yeon-hwa had been gradually reducing her fear of me through our joint mentoring sessions, but the recent sparring seemed to have reset her fear gauge.
“...”
She didn’t dare walk beside me but kept her position diagonally behind me, just over my shoulder.
This was mainly because our strides differed, and as she continually checked my face, her pace naturally slowed.
Whenever she fell slightly behind, she would scurry forward to walk just beyond my shoulder, and if the distance increased, she would hurry back up.
After several repetitions of this pattern, I slowed my steps and called back to her.
“Are you going to keep walking like that?”
“Mhmm? No, no? It’s not like that...”
Only then did Hong Yeon-hwa hesitantly come closer to my side and match my pace.
However, the fact that he kept fidgeting and checking my face did not improve at all.
Resigning myself to it, we walked on in silence until,
“......”
During her fidgeting, Hong Yeon-hwa made a face that seemed to suggest she had something she wanted to say.
It was more due to her clumsiness in hiding her expressions than anything else.
Once again, I was the one to break the silence.
“If you have something to say, say it. If you’re curious about something, just ask.”
“Well, um...”
After a pause, what came from Hong Yeon-hwa was,
“... How was it?”
A question that omitted and conveyed much.
To put it at length, what she meant was, “Did you think I managed the crystal duel battle well earlier, from your perspective as my opponent?”
I gave her an honest impression.
“It wasn’t bad. That Fire Pillar, did you modify it?”
“Uh, Mhmm...”
“I hadn’t seen it before.”
“I just started using it recently. That, the last time at the blacksmith’s workshop...”
Hong Yeon-hwa had first used the small Fire Pillar about two weeks ago when she decided to unleash fire magic on Millennium Iron at the blacksmith’s workshop.
It was a method she had devised to concentrate and maintain firepower most efficiently, and after using it continuously, she was inspired to adapt it for combat.
Now, it could practically be considered a different spell altogether due to those modifications.
The fact that a first-year who was barely a month into her enrollment could adapt magic to her tastes showed her capability.
But that wasn’t the only impressive thing.
The duel had started after Dang Gyu-young gave Hong Yeon-hwa the crystal and sent her off. This gave her some time to prepare.
However, it didn’t take me long to locate Hong Yeon-hwa and catch up to her.
In that brief period of time, she had laid down numerous magic circles and turned the area into a minefield.ReeAd lateSt chapters at nô(v)e/lbin/.c/o/m Only
Even considering the small size of the Fire Pillar, her casting speed was tremendous.
“There was no room to step. With that casting speed, you could probably set them up even during battle.”
“Maybe. With a bit more practice...”
“That, Cha Hyeon-joo came?”
The slight strangeness in Shin Byeong-cheol’s expression was probably because he knew who Cha Hyeon-joo really was.
After all, it was Shin Byeong-cheol who had tipped me off that there was a promising archer in our group.
He then asked me,
“How did you get mixed up with her?”
“She was my opponent in yesterday’s duel battle.”
“Who won?”
“I did.”
“So she came looking for you.”
Shin Byeong-cheol immediately understood.
Of course, it wasn’t just as simple as “I won, so she came looking for me.” Quite a lot had happened.
If I had to point out one decisive factor, it might have been the fact that I sent her flying twice with Wind Force.
Shin Byeong-cheol lowered his voice and murmured,
“Be careful, she has a really nasty temper.”
“Worse than Song Cheon-hye?”
“Song Cheon-hye is cute compared to her.”
“I think so too.”
Zzzt!
As if our conversation could be heard, a sharp energy pierced through from outside the classroom.
Shin Byeong-cheol threw up his hands and backed away as if pleading his innocence with a, “I didn’t do anything wrong~ I’m just a harmless animal~”
“Good luck. Oppa, fighting.” (TN: fighting means good luck; oppa means older brother but only girls say it lol.)
Leaving behind the luck Shin Byeong-cheol wished for me, I stepped out of the classroom and found a girl that I think was Cha Hyeon-joo waiting for me.
During the duel battle yesterday, only her eyes were visible behind a mask, but now she was wearing large glasses that covered the upper part of her face instead.
The half of her face visible below the glasses was quite attractive, yet the glasses made her overall appearance seem very plain.
People often joke that glasses are a “beauty seal” and in her case, it was no joke.
A disguise artifact.
It was far more powerful and natural than any crude item like an [Anonymous Badge].
Most people wouldn’t even realize that a recognition interference magic was cast on it.
But how did I immediately know this girl was Cha Hyeon-joo?
Zzzt,
It was because of the killing intent she had been directing solely at me all this time.
As I got closer, her irritation became unmistakable.
She was clearly furious.
I looked at Cha Hyeon-joo for a few seconds, then pretended to be shocked and shouted loudly enough for everyone around to hear.
“Isn’t this the one? The power of the Guild Union! The hidden genius archer! Cha! Hyeon—!!”
“Shut up. Just shut up.”
Cha Hyeon-joo quickly covered my mouth.
She cast a sharp glance around to see if anyone heard us, but the other students had only glanced briefly in our direction when I shouted and soon continued on their way as if they were uninterested.
Cha Hyeon-joo then shot a piercing glare at me again and muttered a single word before taking the lead,
“Follow.”
“Yes.”
I obediently followed Cha Hyeon-joo.
We continued walking until the crowd thinned down.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why I called you?”
“I’m not sure?”
The reason was too obvious to truly be unknown, but I had to give her the chance to say it herself.
Facing me, Cha Hyeon-joo spoke each word clearly and one by one.
“I can’t accept that loss. Let’s fight again.”
She sought me out for a rematch. A revenge match.
