She squinted down the lifeless garden. In the flower bed, the snow that had fallen infrequently for several days had frozen white and was shining like a diamond, and the dry branches were shaking pitifully with a rustling sound of the wind.
She quickly crossed the desolated landscape with Ruth. As they passed through an empty garden and through a gate, she heard the sharp sound of the sword hitting, the sound of horses’ hooves, and the loud chanting.
“We’ll have to wait a little bit.”
Ruth, standing at the entrance of the training center, mumbled, kicking his tongue lightly. Max held out her head and looked down.
Inside the huge training ground of the stadium hall, hundreds of knights sat on their horses and stood facing each other in eight long rows. They were all dressed in full-body metal armor and had a spear longer than their height in their hands.
Max caught her breath without realizing it as the scene of tension. When the knight standing in the middle of them raised the red flag high, the knights shouted and rushed toward each other.
Max screamed and covered her eyes with both hands. The loud sounds of metal hitting, the cries of horses, and thunderous shouts echoed for a long time. It was such a fierce training that a slight vibration was delivered through the underlying stone floor.
“It’s violent today.”
Ruth whistled softly. Finally, as the surrounding area became quiet, Max slowly opened her eyes. The knights, standing in line again, came down from their horses one by one and were throwing off their helmets. Ruth pulled her arm.
“Now, let’s go down. I don’t think there are many people.”
Max scrambled down the stairs, embarrassed. One of the knights who was organizing the spears and helmets looked suspicious when he saw them.
“Mr. Ruth, what are you doing here in the training ground?”
“I’m here to see if anyone got hurt during training.”
“What’s up with that? Didn’t you tell me not to call you unless it’s a crippling wound?”
Hebaron, who took off his helmet and threw it randomly on the floor, said loud and sarcastically. His face looked more rugged than usual, perhaps because he was still heated. Under the vivid pressure of the knight, Max sneaked behind Ruth. However, Ruth pushed Max relentlessly to the front of the knights.
“Of course, I wouldn’t volunteer to do that. Mrs. Calypse will treat you.”
Only then did the knights open their eyes wide, realizing that it was the wife of the lord who was standing behind him with a robe.
Max gave an awkward smile at their shaky eyes. Recently, Max thought she had almost overcome it, but her fingertips were shaking with tension as she stood in front of large, armed men. Max pulled her Rob’s sleeve, quickly hid it, and took her mouth off with difficulty.
“I’m not good enough, but…I can t-try treating you-your wounds….”
The knights exchanged glances with embarrassed faces at the murmur. After a long awkward silence, Elliot Caron, who was standing in the front, stepped out.
“Thank you My Lady, but we can treat the simple wounds on our own. You don’t have to mind.”
A well-known knight refused so firmly. When she couldn’t answer back, Ruth stepped in.
“Lord’s Wife is learning magic right now. I need someone for us to practice healing magic, so I want you to cooperate.”
“Magic?”
Hebaron, who was gulping down water from the water bottle, looked back with a surprised look. Other knights glanced at Max as if it was unexpected.
“Does Lord’s wife know how to do magic?”
“I-I am learning… b-but I-I can’t do complicated magic yet”
The knights turned their eyes again, as if the story seemed incredible. Even Hebaron looked embarrassed, scratching his curly hair with sweat.
“Magician? that’s a good idea. It’s hard to fail and it might cause side effects. The training is intense these days….”
“Even if you fail, healing magic has no side effects. It’s a useless worry.”
Still, the knights only looked at each other as if Ruth and Max are untrustworthy. Then Ruth glared at the knights’ faces one by one, crossing his arms to his chest.
“I don’t have to explain to you how helpful a healer is. Now I’m teaching you magic, depriving my sleeping time for the Anatol and the Knights of Remdragon! But you’re not going to give me a little bit of help? Oh my God, great knights have a nerve!”
With a rattling voice, Hebaron blocked his ears and made a sharp impression.
“Oh, you keep nagging. Who the hell said we wouldn’t help? It’s just because I didn’t have any scratch from head to toe! Hey, is anybody hurt?”
“She doesn’t have enough mana yet, so it’s hard to cure a major injury. If so, I would like someone with a minor injury to volunteer.”
“Why so tricky?”
Hebaron, who was grumbling, suddenly slapped his hand as if something had come to mind, and called a knight quietly watering a horse from a distance.
“Hey, Ricardo! You got a scratch on your cheek during the battle, right? Why don’t you be the subject of the experiment?”
The knight frowned at Hebaron’s loud voice and threw a sharp look. Max shrugged her shoulders without realizing it. Uslin Ricardo, the blonde knight who was most hostile to her. He looked through the vein with a dry look and shouted bluntly at Hebaron.
“Be the subject of their experiment. You must have black and blue bruises on your stomach because of the blow I gave you earlier.”
“What kind of bruise is that? It’s just as itchy like a mosquito bite. I’m sorry, but I’m fine.”
“Don’t brag. You stumbled like a scarecrow on a horse.”
“He’s gone to the eye! My Lady, I think you need to treat his child in every corner.”
Max glanced at Uslin’s cold face with an embarrassing look. Ruth approached him with a deep sigh as if he was fed up with the two’s verbal fights.
“You have a scar on your cheek. I think Lord’s wife will be able to treat it with this much. It won’t take long, so please cooperate.”
“No need. You can leave this alone.”
“It’s better if you get better right away. What if there’s a scar on your handsome face?”
“I’d rather have a scar than leave my face to an ice wizard.”– Uslin, u little shit!
The cold horse crept into Max mind. Even if she fails, there are no side effects, but he doesn’t have to refuse so stubbornly. Max swallowed and uttered a trembling voice.
“Well, I-I p-practice a lot, you’ll be fine… I-It’s not going to fail. ju-just give me a try…”
She couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Disgust clearly emerged on the cold face of the knight. He looked at her with disapproval and spouted coldly.
“Are you sure you can just memorize the order of spells?” – that was rude!
Max was red-hot from head to toe with shame. The fever went up so high that all her ears were burning and my eyelids were tingling. Max wanted to shout at him sharply, but she couldn’t move as if my tongue had frozen.
Max could not bear the embarrassment and bowed her head while only her lips were trembling. She wanted to be faithful to protecting her pride, but she couldn’t face the knight’s eyes.
“T-T-The order is….”
She managed to attract calmness and retort that she could do magic without casting a spell, but suddenly, a big hand grabbed her shoulder.
Max looked back in surprise. When the hell did, he come? Riftan stood staring at the knight with scary eyes. Riftan pushed Max aside lightly and grabbed Uslin by the collar with one hand.
“Don’t dare you talk to my wife like that.”
Riftan almost lifted Uslin’s body and roared like an angry hound with evil-door gums. The knight pushed his hand out to escape, but Riftan didn’t budge.
The knight’s face quickly turned red because he was strangled at the foot of the cape. When they saw the scene, the knights panicked and hurriedly dissuaded Riftan.
“Calm down, Lord!”
He didn’t budge even though the two generals tried to stick together and tear it off. Riftan shook Uslin’s body threateningly and let him go as if he were throwing it away. Other knights quickly helped him as he coughed out with a puffy face.
Watching the scene with cold eyes, Riftan turned around and pulled Maxi’s arm.
“Come on, let’s go back to the castle.”
Max, who was standing in a daze, was led by Riftan’s hand and moved. At that moment, Uslin’s harsh voice echoed behind his back.
“Don’t you have any pride?”
Riftan stopped his towering steps and looked back at him. The knight rubbed his sleepy neck with one hand and wore an ax.
“Don’t you even get angry! Who the hell made you suffer…How could you cover for a Croix daughter like that? What he did…!”
Without anyone to stop him, Riftan rushed in and punched Uslin in the face. The knight’s big body fluttered back. Max screamed in surprise. Riftan raised his fist again as if his anger was still lingering. The knights grabbed him by the arm in a panic.
“L-Lord… hang in there!”
“Jesus…. Let’s stop them!”
“Don’t do that! It’s going too far!”
Riftan glared at Uslin, who was stealing a torn mouth with his fist. Uslin’s forehead, which seemed to be pressed by the brutal spirit, also broke out in a cold sweat. Riftan approached him as if he were overpowering him, and he chewed every word.
“If you talk about my wife like that one more time, I’ll cut you from the mouth to the crotch.” – I’m stanning him hard rn!
