I Possessed The Villain’s Childhood Friend

9 – Dance Contest – 1

“Ha ha.”

I took a deep breath and looked ahead.

There were many people, including myself, standing in the wide space.

The heat envelopes the hall.

I couldn’t relax.

Because I’ll be the one who gets eaten the moment I lose my guard even a little bit.

I maintained my body tension so that I could move immediately when the signal sounded.

“….”

The last moment I closed my eyes and exhaled.

Boom!

“Waaa!!”

A huge shout roared with the signal.

And at that moment, I immediately drew my sword and swung it forward.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha.”

I am out of breath.

My legs were shaking and I felt like I was going to collapse at any moment.

But I couldn’t.

If you fall down here, it will end like this.

“There are only 10 left.”

Only 10 people, including myself, have been standing so far in a venue that used to have over 100 people.

“It’s so damn hard.”

My expectations that I could easily pass the preliminaries collapsed so easily.

Dance competition in Heros.

The preliminaries were changed to a higher-than-average figure of more than 500 participants.

Divide the participants into roughly 100 people, and have those 100 people fight at the same time.

The 3 people standing to the end will advance to the finals.

In order to make a total of 16 people, up to 4 people survive in the preliminaries on the last day.

Unfortunately, the preliminary team I’m on is Group A.

It was the first team to be held on the first day.

That meant that out of the remaining 10, 7 more still had to fall.

Of course, I’m not going to fight everyone else by myself.

“Ha ha, ha ha.”

I took a breath and looked around.

Most of them looked as tired as I was.

Except for one person.

He was wearing a hood and his mask covered his face.

I could only guess that he was a man by looking at his physique.

While everyone else was out of breath, that man, ‘Mask Man’ did not move at all.

A clear talent that anyone can see.

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Perhaps he was aspiring to be a knight.

It was impossible to defeat him no matter how much I thought about it.

Even if everyone else attacked at the same time, it was clear that they would lightly subdue them.

“Damn it.”

That means you have to defeat everyone except the masked man.

But that was easier said than done.

All 10 people standing in the hall right now didn’t move carelessly.

It was a complete stalemate.

In other words, whoever moves first will throw the balance off.

And neither I nor anyone else had the right to upset that balance.

Only a masked man who is strong enough to be acknowledged by everyone.

Everyone was looking at him in a tight string of tension.

“Haam.”

So suddenly, a yawn echoed through the hall.

The culprit was, of course, a masked man.

I didn’t feel any tension at all.

On the contrary, there was even a hint of boredom.

“Shall we finish soon?”

The masked man moved at the same time as those words.

He ran straight to the right.

The target was me.

It was unbelievable that he fought for more than 3 hours.

“Kuu!”

As soon as Kamen Nam got close to me, he swung down his sword so fast that it was difficult to react.

The moment he managed to raise his sword and receive the blow, a tremendous shock hit his wrist.

If I had neglected my training for even one day, I would have collapsed on the floor.

“Oh, that’s great. I thought you couldn’t stop it.”

I wanted to refute the sarcastic comment, but I couldn’t even open my mouth now.

“Once you do that, you pass.”

Then the masked man suddenly uttered something he couldn’t understand, and quickly retrieved the sword.

“What?!”

Before I was able to catch him, he disappeared in front of me in an instant.

He turned his head to the right and saw his back as he was running towards someone else.

How should I describe this?

It was a really fleeting moment.

In that instant, everyone except for me collapsed the moment the masked man crossed swords.

In this way, the preliminaries of Team A, which I belonged to, ended with a huge shout.

The finalists are Masked Man and I. And it was the man standing to his left.

“You worked hard.”

After the preliminaries, someone came up to me and started talking to me.

“… You worked hard.”

I slowly took his outstretched hand and shook it.

When I saw it up close, the physique of the masked man was similar to mine.

I wonder if he is slightly shorter than me.

“Actually, I was just going to go back, but I had a question.”

Any questions?

I swallowed slowly at the unexpected question.

“Why are you wasting such money?”

“… Waste?”

“I was wondering if you trained like that on purpose.”

I asked me in the tone that the masked man was interesting, but I couldn’t answer.

I couldn’t even figure out what the question meant.

“If that’s intentional, it’s great skill.”

So, when I said that, the rest of the story went on.

“Let’s fight seriously in the finals.”

With that said, the rest left.

I couldn’t move for a while thinking about what he said.

★

“Congratulations on passing the preliminary round, Prince Ike.”

It was Raina’s father, ‘Richard Rogelia’, who said that.

It was a little subtle to say that she resembled Reina with her light blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

However, the cold atmosphere emanating from his sharp eyes seemed to clearly indicate that he was Reina’s father.

“Congratulations on passing the preliminary round, Prince Ike.”

“Congratulations, Brother Ike!”

The place where I am now is the dining room of the mansion of the Roselia duchess.

Originally, they were going to use the family’s annex in Heros, but they were invited by Duke Ricard to stay in the mansion for the duration of the dance competition.

“Thank you.”

I smiled softly and bowed my head.

“How is Addos doing?”

“Yes. You are very healthy.”

“It would have been nice if he came too.”

Duke Rickard clicked his tongue and sliced his steak.

My father and Duke Rickard were childhood friends, just like Raina and I.

It is said that Axus and Roselia have been close friends since long ago.

“Brother! How was the qualifier? Was it easy?”

This boy who called me big brother was Raina’s younger brother, Rupert Roselia.

Completely white hair and sky blue eyes.

It felt different from Duke Rickard and Reina.

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Perhaps it resembles Reina’s mother, ‘Alicia Rogelia’, who has already passed away.

The portrait of the Duchess, which can be seen immediately upon entering the mansion, was drawn with silver hair and light blue eyes.

“I was going to go see it today, but it’s a pity that I couldn’t because it overlapped with class time.”

I don’t know if this bright atmosphere resembles Duchess Alicia.

“Rupert. Prince Ike must be tired already, so calm down a bit.”

“Yes, Sister!”

After being scolded by Rayna, Rupert quietly resumed her meal.

While it must have been a pretty unpleasant scolding, Rupert didn’t seem to mind at all.

She seemed rather happy.

And after that, a quiet meal ensued.

It was a time of silence, as if eating alone.

“Wasting.”

What the masked man said to me after the preliminaries yesterday.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what the meaning behind those words was.

Today is Tuesday. And the finals start next Monday.

There are 7 days left including today.

Can I really understand the meaning of that word in 7 days?

“It must be difficult.”

It could be a strategy to confuse the enemies you will meet in the main battle, but I didn’t expect it to be like that.

There was no need for a masked man who was overwhelmingly stronger than me to use such tricks, and I didn’t think there was a lie in his words that he wanted to fight seriously.

And above all, intuition was shouting.

If I knew the exact meaning of that word, I would definitely be able to move on to the next step.

What are you wasting?

As expected, I couldn’t figure it out just by thinking about it.

I left the room with the scabbard standing in the corner of the guest room.

And after receiving permission from the chamberlain, I moved to the arena.

“Whoa.”

I took a slow, deep breath and drew my favorite sword.

Then close your eyes and spread mana throughout your body.

Strengthening the body.

This is the most basic magic in the world, but the most important magic to become a knight.

There is even a saying that a knight’s talent begins with this magic.

I felt my muscles wake up.

Until here, it’s the same as usual.

What more can I do here?

No matter how many books I searched, there was no explanation about body strengthening magic.

“Suck!”

I swung my sword with all my might in the middle position.

Hearing the sound of the air splitting, the mana flows again.

How many times have you repeated this?

My whole body was wet with sweat before I knew it.

“Hmm.”

I don’t know.

Swinging the sword until his clothes were damp was also a daily routine that was not much different from usual.

In other words, I couldn’t realize or do anything with this.

“Young master Ike. It must be hot, so drink some water.”

I was immersed in contemplation while holding the sword, and before I knew it, Reina was approaching me.

“Reina, sheep.”

I was going to sing it comfortably as usual, but when I saw Reina’s eyes, I immediately changed my title.

Maybe that was the correct answer, Reina smiled softly.

I looked behind her and saw several attendants, including Anna, standing together.

Because we are not alone, it must mean that we should follow the manners.

“Whoa.”

I drank the water that Anna handed me and exhaled deeply.

“Thank you, Ms. Raina.”

“Because Prince Ike is definitely a guest invited by my father. It is only natural to treat them in a way that makes them feel comfortable.”

As Anna retrieved her cup, Reina bowed her head slightly before leaving her arena.

“Hey, Ms. Reina.”

“Yes?”

I grabbed her and asked her, despite her shyness.

“If Ms. Reina keeps her things going to waste, how do you think she will deal with it?”

“Waste, is it?”

It would be the best way to develop on your own, but there are definitely limits to Beomjae alone like me.

The best way to do that was to ask someone else for help.

Though it was embarrassing that the opponent was Reina.

“Hmm. I guess I’ll start by looking at why such waste occurs.”

“Do you mean to start by looking for the reason?”

“Precisely, this is to check if this is wasteful. For example, it would be a luxury and a waste for me to take a bath when water is scarce. But if it’s washing the body of a child, the story will be different. For a child, cleanliness is a matter directly related to life.”

Obviously the concept of waste is relative.

But I wonder if my current situation has anything to do with it.

“Once the confirmation is complete, it is time to make adjustments. Continuing on that subject, you can’t ban bathing for the rest of your life. So now how to take a bath without wasting water. I think the simplest thing is to reuse the water used to wash a child.”

After saying that, Reina left the arena, saying that she had to take care of her official duties again.

“Doesn’t blindly reduce consumption, but finding ways to control it?”

It was the complete opposite of what I thought.

Until now, thinking about the word waste, I relaxed when holding a sword, or used less magic power.

Because I was looking for an answer like that.

“Waste, bath, reuse, luxury, water, adjustment, waste.”

If I only thought of the result of being wasted, Reina said that I should find the best efficiency by considering the process as well.

“I think I know somehow….”

I felt like I could get the answer if I stretched out my hand a little more.

Water, waste, bath, adjustment, theme, method, cleanliness, life, luxury, direct connection, reuse, reuse, reuse… ?

“… Cycle?”

My eyes opened.

I wasn’t sure yet, but I was certain that this would be the correct answer.

At some point, I took up my sword again and took a stance.

And as before, he slowly swung his sword.

I was able to get one step closer to that movement.