Chapter 547

I had to stiffen my expression as I looked at the woman standing before me.

Hyo Yeonri.

A beauty with a mole near her eye and a heavy romantic calamity.

At a glance, she was a peerless beauty, and a seductive air flowed thickly from her.

Romantic calamity.

What people commonly called a face afflicted by romantic calamity referred to beings who bewitched men even when they sat still, and because of that became entangled in incidents and accidents on their own.

Because it bore the word calamity, they were born to experience fates they could not control, like disasters.

Most of those incidents involved the opposite sex, and their results were rarely good.

Personally, I tended to feel sorry for romantic calamity.

I had seen many people suffer disaster because of outward traits they themselves could not control.

So I had some understanding of their lives.

But—

This one.

This woman named Hyo Yeonri felt a little different.

I knew this kind of feeling too.

Those who had a heavy romantic calamity, yet used the advantages that came with it.

Knowing what they themselves possessed.

Living by using romantic calamity.

In their own way, they were clever beings, if one wanted to call them clever.

But I did not particularly like this sort.

It was hard to call them bad when I had yet to experience it, but—

Most of them were bad.

That had been my experience in life.

“What are you asking me to do with you?”

“I’m asking you to do tomorrow’s training with me.”

My brow narrowed at her bright smile.

With me?

And—

Why is she like that?

Why had Yu Yeon suddenly broken that?

Had a bug come out or something?

She did not seem like the kind of person who would be startled by a bug.

In any case.

I put Yu Yeon’s matter aside and focused on Hyo Yeonri.

“Out of nowhere?”

“Yes. Out of nowhere. The training is tomorrow, after all.”

“......Why are you trying to do it with me?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I think doing it with you would be best.”

“.......”

I frowned.

Because doing it with me would be best?

It sounded like she knew what tomorrow’s training was.

I did not know whether those words were true or not.

Still—

“I refuse.”

“Oh my?”

Hyo Yeonri’s eyes widened at my refusal.

“Why?”

“I am not particularly drawn to it. And if that is the case, I already have someone else in mind.”

“......Someone else? Hm.”

Hyo Yeonri made a languid sound and narrowed her eyes.

“All right. What a shame~”

As if she had no lingering attachment, she simply turned her back.

A subtle fragrance drifted from her swaying movement.

I watched Hyo Yeonri disappear like that, then swept my hair back.

Tomorrow’s training, huh.

I was curious what they were doing for her to act that way, but I said nothing else and turned around.

“Why did you break this?”

“.......”

I walked over and asked Yu Yeon, but she had already returned to her usual atmosphere and gave no particular answer.

She was simply cleaning up the debris she had broken.

“.......”

Was she sick somewhere too?

Whatever it was, I decided to think of it that way.

*****

The next day came.

After a day had passed, early in the morning—

Just as the sun had barely begun to rise, we headed to our destination.

It was the place where we had done something called the Holy Cult Battle yesterday, and when we arrived, several people were standing there, including the instructor we had seen yesterday.

The younger-generation prodigies were gathered before them as well.

It felt as though something had changed.

Was it because they were wearing armbands over their martial uniforms?

Numbers were written on the armbands.

Each of them bore the number assigned yesterday.

“Is everyone here?”

A languid voice flowed out.

But unlike that relaxed voice, the discipline of the others was pulled taut.

I had felt it since yesterday, but that instructor might be a far more impressive person than I had thought.

I suppose so.

That had to be why everyone’s discipline was taut even when he had not done anything.

As I watched him quietly—

“This is the second day. You should already have heard about today’s training......”

The instructor checked our side.

“But there are probably some who do not know, so I will explain again. It is Twin Stars.”

Twin Stars?

Stars?

Two stars?

What did that mean?

“Form pairs and seize the jade beads assigned to you. A pair wins by taking two beads. Do you understand?”

“.......”

I wondered what it was, but it was just stealing beads?

I felt like we had done this at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering too.

Memories crept up on me.

And we even had to form pairs in the middle of that.

At a glance, it looked like bothersome training.

But should this even be called training?

I wondered what it was supposed to train us for...... Well, if we were told to do it, we would have to do it.

That was when it happened.

“You are forbidden from forming pairs among yourselves. Pair with Cult members.”

The orthodox martial artists were blocked from pairing with one another.

It seemed they were preventing us from sticking together.

With Cult members, huh?

Ah.

So that was why Hyo Yeonri had wanted to pair with me?

Hmm......

Well, that could be it.

“I will give you half a quarter-hour. Form your pairs and prepare. If you fail to form a pair, you will participate alone, so choose wisely.”

If everyone could not form a pair, they would just participate alone.

It was quite a simple and convenient method.

Keeping that in mind, I moved.

The instructor said he would return after half a quarter-hour, so we had to form pairs on our own.

The Holy Cult’s people were already moving busily, looking for their partners.

There was no sign of anyone coming toward us in particular.

I could not tell if they were gauging the situation or still on guard.

Seeing that, I quietly looked around.

Where is he?

There was someone I had to find.

From the moment I heard what kind of training this was, I had already picked someone out.

I had no intention of doing it with one of my companions anyway.

It was a chance to gain information, so why would I do it with someone I knew?

That would be a bit of a loss.

Thinking that, I moved.

Because I could feel people subtly avoiding me, finding someone was not especially difficult.

There he is.

I found him.

I could see a familiar face standing far away.

I approached him.

“So you were here.”

“Hm?”

I saw Hyo Yeonri.

She looked at me and widened her eyes.

“Oh my. What’s this? You said you would not do it. Did you change your mind after all—”

“Would you pair with me?”

I passed Hyo Yeonri, who had been looking at me, and went behind her.

When I spoke to the young man standing there, he flinched.

“......Me?”

“Yes. You.”

Woo Young Jin.

The fellow who had clashed with me last time—more precisely, with Poison Dragon.

When I approached him and asked him to become my partner, Woo Young Jin looked extremely flustered.

“Why me?”

“Because I think you would be all right. It does not seem like a bad offer. Let us do it.”

“.......”

His gaze was full of wariness.

Even he probably could not understand why I was saying this to him.

Of course he would find it strange.

No matter how one looked at it, forming a pair after we had already clashed was odd.

“What will you do?”

“.......”

Woo Young Jin pondered.

Still, the fact that he did not refuse immediately and thought about it meant this fellow had his own thoughts.

“Should I give you time to think?”

“No. I will do it.”

Fortunately, he took my hand.

It meant we had become a pair.

“......Hah?”

I saw Hyo Yeonri’s brow furrow deeply beside him, but—

I ignored that as well.

Whether she frowned or not, it was not important to me.

And so, the pair was formed.

*****

Half a quarter-hour passed.

The instructor rose at exactly the appointed time.

“You should all be ready.”

Those who had already formed pairs stood in their places, two by two.

The instructor’s gaze suddenly turned this way.

He looked at me and Woo Young Jin, then tilted his head slightly.

His expression seemed to ask what sort of combination this was.

As for the others—

What are they doing?

Surprisingly, Yu Yeon had paired with Hyo Yeonri.

Why had that side......?

I did not understand, but this side was the same.

I had also paired with Woo Young Jin, so I supposed it could happen.

Cloud Dragon and Poison Dragon seemed to have found partners on their own as well.

The problem was—

“Anyone, come at me!”

“.......”

Peng Dojun.

That madman had not formed a pair at all.

The moment he heard that he could do it alone, he grinned and apparently decided to do exactly that.

That man really was something.

I held back a sigh.

The instructor also saw that Peng Dojun was alone, but he did not seem to care in particular.

Then the instructor continued speaking.

“If you are ready, move. Take your beads yourselves.”

He waved his hand.

At those words, the Cult members moved.

“Let us go.”

Woo Young Jin moved first, and I followed him.

He headed somewhere as if familiar with it.

It was a place where jade beads were piled high.

He picked one up there.

“Should I keep it?”

“Do as you please.”

Woo Young Jin decided to keep the bead.

After he put it into his chest, the place we headed for was the mountain.

The rear mountain of the Cult.

A place where glimpses of grass could be seen, but most of it was cliff.

We headed there.

Was this the space prepared for the training?

It was wide open, so there did not seem to be anywhere to hide in particular.

“We are doing it here?”

“The Twin Stars Battle is usually held here.”

“......It seems like we will have to fight messily.”

“Most do.”

At the way he spoke as if he was familiar with it, I asked him,

“You must have experienced this a lot already.”

“This is my third time.”

“......Oh, really?”

He had done it more often than I expected.

Then what was even stranger was—

“Why do this three times......?”

When I asked why he would need to go through this younger-generation prodigy training three times, Woo Young Jin looked at me.

“Because it is necessary. If I obtain a high rank every time, things will be easier later.”

“......A high rank, huh. Why?”

“Is there any reason for me to tell you that much?”

“Mm.”

What a shame.

I thought I might hear more if I dug a little deeper, but Woo Young Jin did not seem inclined to give up any more information.

“Then I will ask something else.”

“So this is why you paired with me.”

“You are clever.”

As though he had sensed that I was trying to obtain information, Woo Young Jin’s face twisted, but I did not care.

“Let me ask you. Among the current younger-generation prodigies, who is the strongest?”

“......What?”

“There seem to be a few besides that person called Gyo Yeon I saw last time.”

“.......”

“There appear to be people here who are called geniuses too...... Who are they?”

Woo Young Jin closed his mouth.

It seemed he had faces in mind, but did he not intend to say them?

“What are you planning to do after hearing that?”

I answered him.

“Well, I am not planning to do anything in particular. It just feels as if we will clash soon anyway, so I want to know.”

“......It feels as if you will clash? You sound certain.”

“I would be. Their eyes were burning with hostility.”

“Hah.”

I had already identified a few of them.

They had been part of the group where Woo Young Jin and Gyo Yeon were.

“......The strongest, you say.”

Woo Young Jin spoke as he thought of the younger-generation prodigies.

“The strongest is the Young Cult Leader.”

The Young Cult Leader.

That fellow’s name was mentioned.

It was only natural.

However—

“But there is one person evaluated as similar to him...... because he is among the Heavenly Demon candidates.”

“......Heavenly Demon candidates?”

Something sounded strange.

Heavenly Demon candidates?

The Heavenly Demon—

You have to possess the Heaven-Slaying Star, don’t you?

Borrowing the Heavenly Demon’s words, one also had to possess divine sight.

From that standpoint, even the Young Cult Leader did not fully meet the conditions.

But there was another candidate?

At those strange words, I looked at Woo Young Jin.

“Heavenly Sword.”

Heavenly Sword.

“He is the other Heavenly Demon candidate.”

Naturally, it was an epithet I had never heard before.