Back on the mountainside, I stood in the training yard as murmuring voices echoed all around me. Across from me stood a woman with a veiled bamboo hat pulled low over her head.
Well, of course.
She was the opponent I would be facing today.
What I couldn’t understand was something else entirely.
Why had hundreds of practitioners gathered here? And why was the Grand Instructor, who had been staying at the ‘Grave of Swords,’ seated atop the platform?
Behind the Grand Instructor stood Seria and Instructor Heo as well. Instructor Heo was one thing, but if even Seria, who had been nursing Senior Delphine, had been dragged out here, then I had to assume something significant had happened.
Of course, my junior did not look particularly cheerful.
A gloomy, cold shadow hung over her eyes.
She looked ready to draw her sword the instant anyone got on her nerves. The chillingly dark expression on her beautiful face gave her an eerie air.
Gnaw, crunch.
The periodic sound of her biting her thumb kept my vigilance sharp.
It meant Seria was far from normal right now.
If she decided that being dragged out here hadn’t been worth it, she might immediately start swinging her sword around.
For example, if Instructor…