"I'm sorry"
"Ehh?"
Surprised, I asked him
"For what?"
"For my attitude towards you. I realised that I was acting childish just because I thought that captain Morris favoured you both. For that, I'm sorry"
He even bowed 90 degrees when saying that, which makes me feel bad.
Even Helemn and the other wizard looked surprised as well.
"He- hey, its fine. Don't worry about it..."
He then straighten his back before saying
"Thank you, and let's finish this quickly..."
"Okay..."
After that, we continued walking.
"Did you guys have some sort of drama with each other?"
"No no, it's just a misunderstanding..."
"Heee..."
After saying that, we realised that we're at the end of the fence already.
"Alright, we're gonna put the talisman up. It's just gonna take a few minutes..."
"What kind of talisman is it?"
I asked.
"It's a talisman that ward off the monster around. To then, it's like the smell of shit, so they won't come close"
Helemn explained, then proceed on chanting something while placing a small piece of paper into the fence.
"..."
Getting bored, I walked around in circle.
"Stay on guard.."
Ars suddenly said.
"Placing a talisman, especially a large scale talisman like that one will release a large amount of magical energy, which can be sensed by nearby monster"
"Mon- monster?"
"One should be coming soon..."
(swoosh)
Just after he said that, something jumped out of the nearby bush straight to Helemn and the other wizard.
Ars then moved quickly and swung his sword, immediately beheading the wolf.
The corpse then landed next to me.
I looked at the headless corpse and feel my stomach turned.
"Urkk..."
Closing my mouth, I then heard Ars's voice
"Alex, get ready!"
I took out my sword and waited for the next monster to come.
"Is- is another one coming?"
"There should be. Stay calm"
"O- okay..."
Don't know why but I keep stuttering.
"How long till they finished chanting?"
"Focus!"
"..."
(swoosh swoosh)
A couple of wolves then jumped straight at Ars instead of the wizard this time.
He then started brawling with the wolves while I just stood there motionless.
As I was watching the fight happen, another one came out and start running towards the wizards.
"Alex! protect them!"
I can hear Ars shouting at me.
"Alex!!"
'Move...'
'Move goddamn it!'
Instead of running forward, I just threw my sword at the wolves, which makes it changes its target to me.
'Oh fuck..'
It dashed towards me.
When it's about to rip my head off, Ars came and killed the wolf that's about to kill me.
He then walked to me and pulled my collar.
"Get a grip of yourself!"
He shouted at me.
"Why are you just standing there? The wizards could've died! And throwing your sword like that is basically throwing your life! You wanna die?!"
I'm basically speechless at this moment.
"My body just won't move..."
"..."
He released his hold on my collar before saying
"There is a difference between being scared and being cowardly. And just now, you were a coward. I'm disappointed in you"
After that, we stood still and the chant stopped.
"Huff... it's done"
Getting up, Helemn looked around him to find wolves' corpses.
"There's four today huh, good job both of you..."
After he said that, I was about to say that it's Ars who did all of that.
But Ars starter talking before I was able to.
"If you're done, let's go"
He started walking away, followed by us.
Helemn looked at me and asked quietly
"What happened to that guy?"
"..."
---
Arriving at the forest entrance, the other group is finished and is already waiting for us.
"How did it go?"
"It's done. We can leave now..."
Sutra asked Helemn before nodding his head.
"Then let's go"
"..."
I just followed along quietly with my head down when Kim Jaesuk approached me.
"Did something happen?"
"Hmm? No, not really..."
"You look down... tell me what happened"
"I just... wasn't able to do anything..."
"..."
I spoke quietly.
"There were wolves and Ars was already fighting while I'm just standing there motionless. When I was able to move, everything I've learnt is no use because I just threw my sword at the wolf instead of fighting it..."
"I see..."
"What about you?"
"I killed one..."
"Oh... good for you"
"..."
After walking for a while, we reached the entrance of the village before parting ways with the other.
It's still noon as we went early in the morning earlier, so I went to the barrack and asked Kim Jaesuk to spar with me.
Standing in front of each other, we sparred with a wooden sword again.
The result was that I got completely beaten by him.
'Why is it so different?'
As we clashed our sword, I started to have so much thought.
'I worked hard too'
It's the kind of thought I'm not supposed to have against Kim Jaesuk.
'Is it the difference between having talent and talentless?'
(thud)
I fell to my butt as I got distracted.
"Ah sorry, did I hit too hard?"
He then offered his hand to help me up.
But I got up with my own instead of taking his arm.
"I'm fine... I'm going back to rest"
After saying that, I walked out of the barrack with a heavy heart.
With Kim Jaesuk staring at me from the back.
---
'He didn't take my hand...'
I watched Alex's back as he's leaving the barrack.
'Is he feeling down because of what happened?'
I then put the wooden swords away to the storage before walking out of the barrack as well.
I walked to the field to find Ars because I wanted to ask what exactly happened.
He's currently swinging his sword in a motion and repeating it multiple times, then I called out to him.
"Hey, Ars!"
"Oh, what's up Jaesuk?"
"Can I ask what happened with Alex?"
When I mentioned Alex, his face became upset.
"What? Did he complained to you or something?"
"Hmm? Ah, no... he just seemed down..."
I clarified.
"Nothing happened. Some wolves just jumped at us earlier this morning and he did nothing but stand there. On top of that, he even threw his sword at the wolf! If I wasn't able to defeat my opponents in time, his head would've been gone. If that's all you gonna ask me, then I'll continue my training"
He explained before continuing his training.
'Hmm, it's the same thing as what Alex said...'
'He's clearly down because he felt that all the training that he did was useless'
'Let's ask him to train together later..'
Thinking of that, I walked out of the training grounds back to home.
"Alex... eh?"
But as I opened the door to ask him out, he's not there.
---
'Sparring with Kim Jaesuk is not good my my heart'
I thought as I walked down the river.
I looked around and realised that the scenery around here is amazing, as I haven't walk around here around this time.
With the sun shining so bright, everything looks nice.
'Talent...'
After coming this far, I realised the difference in talent that we have.
We started at the same time, both with no knowledge whatsoever about sword.
No, I had knowledge although no experience through reading all those novels and mangas back on earth.
But Kim Jaesuk is far ahead of me.
'I should've started practicing the sword without him...'
As I was having that kind of thought, I saw someone fishing near the river.
"Grandpa?"
"Hah?!"
"What the f?!"
He screamer when I called him out, which surprised me.
"Oh hey Alex, you surprised me... what are you doing here?"
"Nothing much, just taking a walk"
"Come sit next to me"
I then sat next to him.
"What happened?"
"Pardon?"
"Its rare for you to look down... tell me what happened"
"Nothing much... I just don't know if being a swordsman suit me very much"
"Why the sudden thought?"
"..."
I then explained to him what happened this morning.
He nodded his head before handing me his fish hooks.
"Here, hold this..."
"?"
"When it start shaking, pull it as hard as you can..."
"Okay?"
I then waited for a fish to bite the bait, which happen just a few seconds after.
"It's here!"
"Pull it as hard as you can!"
I pulled it and realised that it's quite hard and heavy.
"Urggggg"
I groaned hard before screamed and finally able to pull the fish up.
"What?!"
I grimaced when I realised that it was just a small fish, similar to my hand in size.
"Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"Its a small fish, but took you a lot of effort to pull it up don't you?"
"What are you trying to say?"
Staring at me, grandpa then said
"I'm trying to say that, even weakling can becomes quite an opponent when they struggle. Just like if you struggle hard enough, you'll be a tough opponent to beat"
"!"
"You're comparing yourself with Jaesuk aren't you?"
"How'd you know?!"
"Don't, he's very talented with sword. It's pointless trying to compare to him"
I was surprised at his evaluation of Kim Jaesuk.
Grandpa then continued
"Anyway, what you lacked right now is the courage to struggle, which caused your current predicament"
"..."
"Train more and struggle more, and you'll be able to do better next time"
"Okay..."
I then sat next to grandpa in silence, watching him fish.