Chapter 50 (2/2)

And there, Doug’s eyes were staring right at her.

Slad and Geith realised too.

“Ahh. He’s completely locked onto you.”

“Geez, what does he want with me,” she sighed with creased brows.

With a guy like that, how could she return to the end of the line?

“Well, it’s because you’re in the 18th…” Geith said and pointed out the reality again.

“Does he really admire the 18th that much?”

Fii loved the 18th and found it a great place to be, but to be honest, she didn’t quite understand the dream of wanting to join it. The only reason Fii wanted to stay in the 18th was because she needed her papers as a knight and because there were people who needed her.

“Well, I think everybody admires them to a degree, but maybe Doug is especially fixated…”

At the very least, n.o.body in the Northern Dormitory had thought of challenging Fii to steal her position.

“Yeah. That’s why he joined the Northern Dorm to begin with, hey?”

Even Slad, who admired the 18th, found Doug’s obsession to be a little weird.

“Well, just relax,” said Gorms. “I’ll send him flying for ya,” he declared with a clenched fist.

After training ended, Gorms and Doug found themselves on the training grounds, pointing their wooden swords at each other.

“Hey, Transfer Student. You ready to lose?”

“I’m ready to fight.”

As usual, Gorms was wearing a condescending and villainous smile, but Fii and the others could tell that his eyes were serious.

As for Doug, his expression was level and serious, and he simply stared quietly back at Gorms.

The other apprentice knights stood around them expectantly.

Instructor Hislo had work and wasn’t here. Although he was strict with those who tried to skip training, he was surprisingly tolerant with things like this.

Although he would get angry if you went too far, it seemed that he considered challenges like this as good training as well.

Or rather, he had done it quite a bit in his youth, or so the apprentices heard from Hislo’s cohort.

Remié was the judge here―――although all it involved was giving the starting signal.

Actually, he was given this role a lot, possibly because of how soft he was.

With swords in stance, Gorms and Doug stood about 5 metres from each other.

Standing midway between them was Remié.

The match was finally about to start.

All the observing apprentice knights gulped in antic.i.p.ation.

“Begin!”

The moment they heard Remié’s voice, Fii and the boys were treated to a shocking scene.

Immediately after Remié shouted for them to begin, Doug had kicked off the ground and shot straight towards Gorms.

He was fast. So incredibly fast. From the moment he began, to the moment he stopped, he was fast.

Normally 5 metres was outside of one’s engagement distance.

But Doug had closed the gap in an instant. While Gorms was thinking about observing Doug, Doug’s sword had already begun homing in on his throat.

He was like a black wind.

“Wha-!?”

Although Gorms was taken by surprise, he swiftly moved to avoid it.

Still, Doug’s thrust was swifter.

He left a well-placed stab into Gorms’ abdomen.

“Guhah-!”

Having taken the full brunt of Doug’s attack, Gorms clutched his stomach and fell to the ground.

The strike had even taken away his consciousness. Doug looked down on the unconscious Gorms with the same subdued expression he held at the beginning of the match.

“Gorms was taken down in one hit!?”

None of the observers could hold back their shock, Fii included.

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