The open ground in front of the abandoned house was still cold.
The earth that had hardened overnight loosened little by little whenever someone moved.
Bido lowered her stance, feeling it through the soles of her feet.
Behind her stood the abandoned house.
The door was shut, and not a sound came from within.
Aslo stood before Bido.
He had not drawn his sword.
As always, before offering any explanation, he looked over Bido’s body.
The tips of her feet, her knees, her waist.
And lastly—
The hand gripping the sword.
“Again.”
It was a short word.
Bido steadied her breath once and raised her longsword.
The weight running down her wrist was clear.
It was a familiar weight.
But familiarity and fitting one’s body were two different things.
Aslo said nothing.
Instead,
he did not miss the instant the tip of Bido’s sword trembled ever so slightly.
“Your hand moves first.”
Bido did not lift her head.
She knew what those words meant.
The habit of letting the body move toward what was comfortable first.
And that, in battle, such a habit always became an opening.
Bido gripped the hilt more deeply.
Rather than feeling as though she held the sword, it was closer to feeling as though she was hanging from it.
“Again.”
Bido took a step forward.
Lightless Slash.
A movement that drove in along a straight line.
The sword cut forward and extended.
Aslo tilted his head slightly.
“Heavy.”
He was not talking about the weight of the sword,
but about Bido’s movement.
Just then—
“Clean.”
A light voice came from behind.
People were standing at the edge of the clearing.
Erdin and Mendel had their backs against the wall of the abandoned house,
silently watching Bido’s hands and feet in turn.
Melanie stood beside them with her arms crossed, smiling.
“Idrin.”
Melanie said.
Her tone was closer to confirmation than praise.
“It’s well organized.”
Erdin spoke in a low voice.
Mendel nodded as well.
“She doesn’t use excessive strength.”
Those words did not reach Bido.
Aslo was still looking at her.
“The sword is slower than your body.”
Bido’s gaze turned forward again.
“So if you drag it along first,”
“the sword cannot follow.”
Aslo added as he looked at Bido’s hand.
“Today, we correct that.”
Bido gave a short nod.
Behind her,
from inside the abandoned house, she sensed a faint presence.
A presence like someone moving,
yet one that had nothing to do with this side.
“Rest.”
Aslo said.
Then,
as if it had already been decided, he added,
“In a little while, you’ll spar with Melanie.”
—
Inside the abandoned house, it was quiet.
The windows had been boarded up long ago,
and light entered only by finding cracks.
The signs of activity outside did not reach this place.
Rangnan stood before the table.
Several maps and folded documents lay scattered there,
but he was not looking at them.
His gaze rested on the empty space atop the table, where nothing had been placed.
Muryeong leaned against the wall.
With one arm folded, his eyes were turned toward the box.
“What now?”
Muryeong said.
“Who knows.”
Rangnan answered without lifting his head.
Silence flowed for a moment inside the abandoned house.
In the meantime,
a low, steady sound came from one side of the room.
It was Miryeong’s breathing.
No, rather than breathing, it was closer to snoring.
Miryeong had continued a forced march without even sleeping properly,
and only now had she fallen into a deep sleep.
Muryeong glanced that way once, then turned his gaze back.
“Wouldn’t it be better,”
Muryeong said quietly,
“to target that priest instead?”
Rangnan did not answer right away.
Miryeong’s snoring stopped for a moment, then resumed.
“That is not a method.”
Rangnan said.
“If we force it, our side will be hurt as well.”
Muryeong did not argue.
Rangnan picked up one of the documents on the table.
He read through part of it,
then set it back down on the table.
“Not now.”
Muryeong’s gaze turned to him.
“Because of the sword?”
Rangnan nodded.
“If we let that child hold it now,”
“before learning how to wield the sword,”
“she will first learn how to be used by it.”
Again, Miryeong’s snoring could be heard.
This time, a little louder.
“There is time.”
“For now, we stay here and watch how the situation unfolds.”
Rangnan said.
And he said nothing more.
Because in this space, those words were enough.
—
Bido and Melanie stood facing each other.
Melanie held a sword in her right hand.
The other end of the chain connected to the sword tip was lightly wound around her left hand.
The chain hung loose,
but it already looked ready to move.
Bido also took her stance.
Strength entered the hand gripping her sword.
Melanie pointed at Bido with her chin.
“Come.”
Bido did not hesitate.
Lightless Slash.
A charge that drove in along a straight line.
Her sword and body surged forward almost at the same time.
Melanie did not retreat and raised her own sword to receive it.
The ring of metal sounded briefly.
Her block was firm, but it did not push back with force.
Instead, her sword slid away as if letting the blow flow off.
Bido’s body naturally advanced further.
Bido did not miss that flow.
Blue Light Flowing Slash.
A movement that carried the weight of the sword onward without stopping.
The sword extended forward once more.
At that instant,
a cold sensation wrapped around Bido’s ankle.
It was Melanie’s chain.
Bido twisted her body on reflex.
But her balance was already collapsing.
The chain was pulled.
Not strongly, but suddenly.
Bido’s body lurched sideways,
and the foot that had been about to kick off the ground stepped into empty air.
She was thrown down onto the ground.
Her breath cut off for an instant.
Aslo said nothing.
He was following the situation with his eyes alone.
Melanie pulled the chain in as it was.
The moment Bido felt that force, she spun her body.
As though turning the pulling force of the chain back against it.
Blue Light Revolving Strike.
A trajectory that cut as her body turned.
The sword drew a circle toward Melanie.
Melanie took one step back.
A distance just enough that the sword tip would not graze her.
But Bido did not stop.
Again,
Blue Light Flowing Slash.
This time, she thought both the distance and the speed were enough.
But Melanie did not raise her sword.
And the chain moved.
At some point, the chain had slipped free from Bido’s ankle and received the trajectory of her sword.
There came the sound of metal wrapping around metal.
And then the chain coiled around the sword as it was.
Only then did Bido put more strength into her hand.
I won’t let go.
That thought came first.
Melanie pulled the chain as it was.
She did not drag it with force.
She merely changed the angle.
Bido felt the sword’s center of gravity twist.
Her wrist could not follow that flow.
The sword slipped from her hand.
The sound of Bido’s sword falling to the ground was strangely small.
Bido stopped a beat too late.
Melanie did not come in any further; she loosened the chain and lowered her sword.
“Enough.”
Aslo’s voice rang low.
Bido caught her breath and looked down at the sword that had fallen to the ground.
Aslo said,
“It was good that you continued the attack.”
Bido lifted her head.
“But,”
Aslo continued,
“you did not see what your opponent was watching before she moved.”
Bido did not answer.
“And,”
Aslo added after a beat,
“in battle, never let go of your sword.”
Bido slowly nodded.
For a moment, no one in the clearing moved.
Melanie loosened the chain and looked at Bido.
“You okay?”
The question was short, closer to a check than concern.
Bido steadied her breath once and nodded.
“Yes.”
Melanie looked over Bido’s reaction once more.
To see whether she was hurt, whether her breathing had fully returned.
“Rest a little.”
Those words were closer to permission than an order.
Bido nodded.
Aslo watched the scene and silently withdrew his gaze.
He knew that Bido did not need words right now.
“Let’s wrap things up for now.”
At Aslo’s words, Erdin and Mendel moved first.
Melanie remained until the end,
and only after seeing Bido take the sword into her hand again did she turn away.
“Come in slowly.”
A little while later,
only Bido remained in the clearing.
As if checking the sensation left in her palm, she slowly put strength into her hand.
The battle from moments ago resumed in her mind.
The instant the chain had wrapped around her leg.
The sensation of her body being pulled off balance.
And—
That brief judgment that it would be fine.
She remembered the paladin from that time.
The eyes spreading red.
The Idrin bursting out.
And the shock at the instant her sword connected.
Bido retraced that scene as though looking at it again.
Only now could she clearly understand that she had not been the one who won.
The paladin had never been wary of her until the end.
He had not seen her as a threat, and so he had let his guard down.
Her attack had entered through that opening.
If he had—
faced her from beginning to end, like Melanie had.
At that moment,
strength entered Bido’s hand.
She might not have been standing here now.
The thought did not last long.
But it was cold enough.
Bido lowered her gaze and looked down at her sword.
The paladin fought with strength.
Melanie fought with judgment.
And both of them were above her.
Bido slowly exhaled.
She could not win yet.
And so—
she decided not to let go.
Next time, she would not wait for her opponent to lower their guard.
Even if her opponent came at her in earnest, she would not let go of her sword.
Bido gripped her sword again.
This time, more deeply than before.
The sword was still heavy.
But she decided she would not turn away from that weight.