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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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‘She won?’
It was a match with an unbelievable difference in skill level. But the result was the opposite. In the final moment, Elsie had seen through her opponent’s attack.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
Gwen finally said, sounding satisfied. But her expression remained impassive.
“Though that temper of yours hasn’t changed.”
Elsie nonchalantly spat out her opponent’s blood. Watching her, Lyudmila asked,
“Just what did you raise?”
But Gwen shook her head.
“All I gave her was my swordsmanship. She was always like that.”
“Always like that?”
“Though it seems another person’s influence has been added to the mix.”
At that moment, Elsie’s gaze shifted towards somewhere in the audience. Lyudmila’s gaze naturally followed.
“Huh?”
Her body froze. A certain person entered her line of sight.
‘Allen Blake?’
Dull blonde hair. A youthful, yet mature face. It was slightly different from the face she saw when escorting him to Hailen, but she could recognize him at a glance.
‘He came here?’
But something felt off. Seo Yoo Rang was a participant in the competition…
‘Wait a minute.’
She realized she was the strange one.
Why had she naturally suspected Seo Yoo Rang was Allen Blake? Their appearances were completely different, and their weapons were also entirely different.
‘However…’
Of course, it wasn’t impossible. Disguising one’s appearance was certainly possible, and considering Seo Yoo Rang’s initial clumsiness with a bow, the weapon difference was also a possibility.
But the important question was why she felt Allen Blake’s presence from Seo Yoo Rang.
‘It’s just a feeling.’
A certain atmosphere naturally emanating from Seo Yoo Rang. It was similar to the atmosphere emanating from Allen Blake. That was the reason.
‘Then the opportunity might come soon.’
Seo Yoo Rang’s match was coming up. She would be able to confirm their relationship then. Two identical people couldn’t exist at the same time.
Just then, Allen Blake’s gaze shifted. It was a fleeting glance, but her intuition told her he had noticed her gaze. And immediately after, Allen Blake stood up.
‘Is it starting?’
She started to feel more certain about her intuition.
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“Wilhelm.”
A deep voice called out to him. Wilhelm turned his head.
“It’s been a while.”
His father stood there.
“Father.”
“Yes, it has been a while.”
He was born into the Rosemound family, a prestigious archery lineage.
His father, a high-ranking hero, rarely returned to the mansion due to his duties, and Wilhelm spent his time honing his archery skills with archery instructors at the mansion.
He hadn’t seen his father since before leaving for the Hero Academy, so it had been almost three years.
“You must have been very busy.”
“You know, don’t you? To maintain my rank as a high-ranking hero solely with archery skills, I have to be more diligent than anyone else.”
“Yes, I know.”
He had felt it keenly while attending the Hero Academy. The archer position wasn’t a particularly influential one.
There were no situations where an archer could single-handedly turn the tide of battle.
‘Except for that strange guy.’
Seo Yoo Rang. That guy displayed strategies that deviated from the conventional archer archetype.
Despite being an archer, he acted alongside a mage as a duo and fought against swordsmen at close range. And Wilhelm was going to face that guy in this competition.
“How do you feel about your opponent this time?”
But honestly, Seo Yoo Rang was…
“Weak.”
Weak. It was an undeniable, objective fact.
‘No matter how much he’s improved, his archery skills are still far below mine. His physical abilities, excluding that strange acceleration ability, are just slightly above average.’
Of course, he couldn’t ignore the unusual feats Seo Yoo Rang had accomplished with such unfavorable conditions. Feats like fighting against three swordsmen alone.
‘But would such feats work in a one-on-one match?’
A feat was just a feat. In most cases, that guy was nothing more than a small part within a larger strategy. Could he really pull off those feats against Wilhelm, a conventional archer?
‘It would be difficult.’
Wilhelm wasn’t going to let his guard down. Just as Seo Yoo Rang had grown by observing him in the archery training grounds, Wilhelm had also been analyzing Seo Yoo Rang.
Including all his unusual feats.
“So I won’t lose.”
“That’s the spirit. You’re an archer of the Rosemound family. You can never lose to anyone with a bow.”
Wilhelm also thought the same.
“Then I’ll return victorious.”
Just as he was about to leave, his father said, “There’s one last thing I want to confirm.”
“Go ahead.”
“If Lyudmila also chooses you as her successor, which one will you choose?”
It was a rather important question from his father’s perspective. Lyudmila’s hero rank was 75, while his, the head of the Rosemound family, was only 81.
Therefore, Lyudmila’s existence was a considerable source of anxiety for him.
“That’s…”
Wilhelm replied, “I would like to think about it after the competition.”
It wasn’t a roundabout way of refusing. He truly wanted to think about it after the competition. Because…
‘Why am I feeling anxious?’
He was certain of his victory. Even so, he felt a sense of unease.
‘Come to think of it, I promised to consult with him if I lost.’
Perhaps he had been feeling uneasy since then. And at the same time, he envied something Seo Yoo Rang possessed that he didn’t.
‘I don’t know.’
His thoughts were complex. Thinking he shouldn’t be like this, he stepped into the arena. His mind instantly calmed down.
‘Let’s win first and think later.’
As he had practiced, his mind cooled down, becoming sharp and focused, suitable for archery.
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Wilhelm walked out from the west side of the arena. He was a student Lyudmila had taught archery for a year, and a colleague who had been an active high-ranking hero during the same era as his father, Lord Rosemound.
Therefore, Lyudmila had a deep connection with Wilhelm.
However, Lyudmila’s attention was elsewhere.
‘Seo Yoo Rang…!’
Seo Yoo Rang walked out from the east side of the arena. He had his usual black hair. His face was also completely different from Allen Blake’s. Even so…
‘The feeling is still similar.’
The atmosphere he exuded was similar for some reason. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but there was another factor that could confirm it.
‘Did Allen Blake not return?’
Allen Blake left his seat, and Seo Yoo Rang appeared. And Allen Blake hadn’t returned. The implication was clear.
‘As expected…’
Just then, a person appeared in the aisle of the opposite spectator stand. It was a man with dull blonde hair.
‘…Allen Blake?’
There were two Allen Blakes. No, that couldn’t be.
‘That means…’
It was her mistake. Allen Blake and Seo Yoo Rang were different people after all.
‘Even the atmosphere emanating from Allen Blake is the same.’
Of course, that atmosphere was still emanating from Seo Yoo Rang as well. The reason she was mistaken was that their atmospheres happened to be similar.
‘Then was all the interest I felt towards Seo Yoo Rang also because of that?’
Was it simply because I mistook Seo Yoo Rang for Allen Blake? There was no way to know for now. Watching the match was the best course of action.
‘But can he really beat Wilhelm?’
Having taught both of them, she couldn’t imagine such a scenario.
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‘Allen, did this work?’
Elsie sat in the middle of the audience. To be precise, she wasn’t just sitting; she was disguised as Allen using Optical Modulation.
And there was another request, to slightly release the aura she usually suppressed, the aura of a princess.
‘I don’t quite understand it, but…’
She was complying with the request for now. If Allen had been trying to deceive her, she would have noticed immediately, and she didn’t sense any such intention in his request this time.
‘And now, Allen and I are true comrades.’
They had to trust each other. That’s why Elsie willingly participated in Allen’s plan. But…
‘This is more terrifying than I thought.’
The moment she entered the audience disguised as Allen, gazes poured in from all directions. They were far beyond the level of simple interest.
‘The gazes during my match were nothing compared to this.’
It was incomparable. It almost felt like everyone here was watching her. Thanks to this, she clearly understood the necessity of a disguised identity.
‘This is the real deal.’
Her own match wasn’t important. What was important was her mission, which had just begun. The Lodreim Kingdom operation was already underway.
‘Failure isn’t an option from now on.’
Simply not giving up wasn’t enough. If she had proved her qualification as a comrade by not giving up, now she had to fulfill her role as a true comrade.
‘I am Allen now.’
Amidst the oppressive gazes, she began to hypnotize herself.
‘No, I am Allen Blake.’
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‘Oh.’
Entering the arena, I looked at the audience and inwardly exclaimed. There was another me there.
‘I was worried she wouldn’t be able to withstand the gazes.’
It seemed like a needless worry. As she had demonstrated during her match, she had incredible willpower. She seemed completely unfazed, except for the first few seconds.
‘No, more than just unfazed…’
That was just me. How was she able to act so perfectly? Perhaps that was why Elsie didn’t fall for my tricks easily.
‘Maybe I can learn more about acting by observing her.’
I sometimes felt limited by always acting overly confident, but now I had a textbook example.
‘Well, that’s that.’
For now, I had to focus on the match at hand. I turned my gaze and looked at Wilhelm.
‘Allen Blake versus Wilhelm…’
Anyone familiar with the game Hundred Brave would know how absurd this matchup was.
No matter how uninteresting his development was, Wilhelm was a top-tier archer character, while I… well, my performance was abysmal, to say the least.
‘However…’
I wasn’t planning to just lose. Most of the people here were skilled enough to notice if I deliberately threw the match.
Even if they weren’t, Wilhelm would definitely notice.
‘Especially since I made a bet with Wilhelm.’
Wilhelm, always serious, had an even more serious expression now. If I lost pathetically to him in this match, where our bet was on the line, he wouldn’t be satisfied either.
And it wasn’t like I had nothing to gain.
‘Even though my chances of winning are practically zero…’
It would be a good experience for me as an archer.
‘When would I ever get another chance to compete against Wilhelm?’
Waiting for the match to begin, I nocked an arrow.
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