Chapter 72

In the late afternoon, as the sun was setting, there was a special match between the first-place winners of the Magic Division and the Knight Division.

“Hm.”

Lerwon, registered as an alchemist, had taken first place in the Magic Division with an utterly relaxed posture.

And in the match against the first-place winner of the Knight Division, his relaxed attitude remained the same.

Rather, Lerwon’s attitude, which seemed almost bored, was enough to surprise the audience.

[Ah! Lerwon, he’s toying with his opponent with ease!!!]

A dagger with a blade barely the size of a palm, and a longsword that reached from the waist to well over the shoulder.

Naturally, the one with the advantage would be the longsword, not the dagger.

Its attack range and stronger striking power. Its stability, control, and the range of its defense and checks were also overwhelmingly advantageous compared to a dagger.

Some of the audience even laughed in disbelief when they saw Lerwon take out a dagger.

However, as if to make all those advantages meaningless, the first-place winner of the Knight Division, wielding the longsword, was being unilaterally pushed back by Lerwon.

When the longsword aimed for Lerwon’s neck, Lerwon bent his body back in an almost acrobatic way to dodge the sword.

Swish— the sword grazed his hair, cutting a little of his dark red hair, but Lerwon’s foot, having spun around once, accurately struck the longsword.

As if it were a special kind of shoe, a clang! sound of metal hitting metal erupted from the shoe that collided with the dagger.

A sharp blade on the sole of the shoe grazed the first-place winner’s cheek, creating a scratch.

Blood splattered, and Lerwon took a few steps back.

“Annoying, pecking away!”

After learning the sword at the academy for three years, you get to see various types of swordsmen.

Some become perfect swordsmen who don’t allow even an inch of an opening, while others become swordsmen who throw their opponents off by using all sorts of irregularities.

And, the student who took first place in the Knight Division was a typical knight, that is, a person who belonged to the former category.

His strength was always maintaining a stable stance, but his opponent today was just too much.

Lerwon was a masterpiece created by Iris Viden herself over a long period of time.

If you were to discuss his skills, no matter how much of a genius you were, it wasn’t at a level that an academy student could handle.

“Checkmate.”

At that moment, Lerwon whispered softly.

Checkmate? What did that mean? The question was quickly resolved.

His vision wavered for a moment, and he couldn’t put strength into his hands. At some point, the world turned upside down.

It wasn’t that the world had turned upside down, but that his body had fallen over.

The sky that he was forced to look up at was so very blue.

‘Why?’

His tongue moved, but no words came out.

One thing was certain, the cause of all this was the one who was slowly approaching with the sound of footsteps.

“It’s a potion.”

At Lerwon’s statement, the stadium momentarily stirred.

A potion in a sacred match! It was something that one would normally not even imagine.

Just before the questions deepened, Kalen hurriedly explained.

[In the case of alchemists, they can participate with three types of potions whose safety has been directly inspected by the professors! It’s a traditional rule that hasn’t changed since the first year the Flowering Festival was held!!]

‘There’s something like that?’

It was a rule he had never heard of before.

As his mouth just gaped open, Lerwon dangled a potion bottle of a bright yellow color in front of him.

“The professors’ safety inspection is ridiculously strict.”

It’s not just a festival that academy students participate in.

Since many people come from outside, safety is the first and second priority.

As such, for a student-level alchemy potion to pass the safety inspection is like a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

Though the story would be very different for Lerwon, who had been taught directly by Iris Viden.

‘Where’s the justice in that!!’

The first-place winner struggled as if it were unfair.

“It’s a rule that’s properly written in the Flowering Festival rulebook. You should have checked properly. So… are you going to surrender? Or do you really want to see blood?”

Lerwon’s question was utterly murderous.

No answer came out easily. Only questions arose. The Lerwon in his memory was always a model student with a picture-perfect smile.

Was he a person who could make such a smile? He had thought he was just a doll, but it felt strange.

“I… admit… de…feat.”

Due to his paralyzed tongue, a slurred pronunciation barely came out.

[Ah! He admits defeat!! The winner of the 3rd-year special match is finally decided! The winner’s name is Lerwon, Lerwon!!!]

Under the sunlight, Lerwon savored his victory with a more relaxed smile than ever before.

* * *

“Congratulations on your win.”

Click-clack, the clear sound of heels echoed in the hallway.

“Oh my, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The woman, who was taking leisurely steps one by one, smiled more beautifully than a flower.

However, that was a flower that held a lot of poison. A poisonous flower that could take a life just by brushing against it.

Lerwon barely managed to raise the corners of his mouth, which were about to contort.

Iris, who had approached right in front of Lerwon with the still clear sound of her heels, fiddled with a flower in a bouquet and then handed it to him.

From the bouquet that filled his arms, a floral scent so strong that it made his head ache, wafted over.

“I congratulate you on your win… but you seem to be a little broken.”

Iris poked Lerwon’s cheek.

At the cold touch that was like appraising an object, the expression he had barely managed to form instantly collapsed.

A fleeting moment was enough for Iris to drag Lerwon down to hell.

“This is what happens when you don’t take care of it.”

Iris let out a sigh that was filled with frustration.

As her long, sharp nails grazed Lerwon’s cheek, a cut formed and a drop of blood welled up.

“Really, if you’re going to take him, you should take good care of him.”

Lerwon hurriedly covered his mouth.

He couldn’t breathe.

It feels like I’m going to die. No, if I were to just die, it wouldn’t be this painful.

I, I— just before Lerwon’s despair could take shape, a booming voice rang out.

“Sunbae!!!”

Lerwon’s gaze, which had been directed at the floor, followed the sound.

Theo, who seemed to have rushed over, panting for breath, strode forward and squeezed in between Lerwon and Iris.

“Are you okay?”

Theo carefully examined Lerwon’s complexion.

After hearing his voice, Lerwon became noticeably calmer.

“There’s a limit to being overprotective, you know.”

“If you didn’t want him taken, you shouldn’t have let him be taken.”

It was pointless to drag on the conversation with Iris Viden.

Theo’s judgment was extremely fast, and also accurate.

Iris Viden was still an incomprehensible being, but thankfully, she was not an ignorant being.

“Ha, hahaha!!!”

Iris burst out laughing in amusement.

Not only did he snatch her possession, but now he was even provoking her. If someone else had seen it, they might have mistaken Theo for having dozens of lives.

Keup, keuheuh— Iris laughed for a long time after that, until tears even welled up in her eyes.

“Since we’ve met like this, there’s something the two of you want to talk about.”

“Does it have to be just the two of us?”

“If possible.”

Theo let out a small groan as if in thought, then glanced at Lerwon’s complexion.

His complexion was so pale that it wouldn’t be strange to say a corpse was his older brother. He made up his mind.

“If it’s a space within the academy, then okay.”

* * *

The place Iris took me to was a kind of box seat.

It was a place where you could watch the match with a more personal feel than the regular audience seats.

“You spend money to buy a place like this?”

The view was nice, so I glanced outside.

Looking at the crimson sky from a place like this, I somehow… felt like I had made it in life, and it wasn’t so bad.

“Do you like this place?”

“Are my impressions important to you?”

I showed her a clear hostility.

Getting stabbed in the back by her once was enough, sincerely.

“Oh my, how petty. You’re too much.”

Iris, who was leisurely walking around inside the box seat, poured wine as red as her eyes into a wine glass and gulped it down.

“The academy is always full of talented students. Shouldn’t I take a close look at who to scout?”

“So is that all you have to say?”

“I didn’t come here just to say something like this.”

Iris shot up from her seat and, with a relaxed smile, handed me something.

What the master of Golden handed me was, as her title suggested, a golden key made of gold with a clear sunset hue.

“I started selling the carbonated drink, and the profit is quite good. We decided to share the proceeds, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t we call it off?”

“Even so, I can’t do that. A contract must be fair.”

Just as I gave up my Lerwon through a contract with you— even though she didn’t say it directly, I felt like I could hear her following words.

Well, she was a formidable mother.

“So, when do you think you’ll get tired of my son?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“It’s just as I said. When you get tired of Lerwon, throw him away to me.”

“People aren’t something to be thrown away, and besides… were you the type to recycle?”

“If it’s something worth it.”

Iris shrugged lightly.

Iris, who had been walking around the box seat for a while, strode over and fiddled with my wrist.

Exactly, the wrist where the seal of the contract had appeared when I first made a contract with her.

Startled, I pulled my hand back, and Iris giggled playfully.

“How cute.”

“Hey, thank you for the compliment.”

“I’ll be putting the profit shares in a bank vault periodically from now on, so take it and use it whenever you’re short on money.”

“I won’t refuse what you give me.”

First, I have to go to the vault and get a whole bunch of money after the Flowering Festival is over.

As Iris saw me putting the key in my pocket, she laughed again.

Hm, should I not go to get the money, I was asking myself, when the door burst open.

“Iris Viden…!”

“Father!”

It was Father.

“Oh my, you’re a little late.”

Iris, as if to provoke my father, stroked my head and then leisurely left the box seat.

She appeared in an instant and disappeared in a moment, a truly storm-like exit.

* * *

“Keuk, aha. Hahaha!”

Iris, who had been walking down the hallway for a while, burst into mad laughter.

What should I do, it’s too funny.

“You’ll have to protect your son well.”

Iris whispered that as she brushed past Evan.

And, Evan, who would normally have blatantly ignored it as if a dog were barking somewhere, showed clear agitation.

“It seems your son is that precious.”

Iris muttered as she stroked the scales of a golden snake that was crawling up her body at some point.

“A person who had no weaknesses has developed a very vulnerable weakness, hasn’t he?”

《So, did you get what you wanted?》

A voice of something asked Iris.

Did she get what she wanted?

“I wonder.”

It was a dubious answer.

Because, she had never once gotten what she truly wanted.

It was a question she couldn’t easily affirm.

But, at least she could confirm this.

“I think I’ll be able to enjoy it.”

A brighter smile than ever before was on the lips of Iris, who was stroking the snake’s scales with feigned affection.

“Wouldn’t that be enough?”

For the arrogant and bored master of Golden, that was more than enough reason to move.

—————–

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