Chapter 13: Well, Let's Do Well With The Same Protagonist (3)
In order to take revenge on a friend who borrowed my three million won and didn't pay it back, I chose the method of recommending a ntr game.
Of course, in order to recommend a game, I had to have played that game first.
And, ‘The Tale Of A Knight's Affair' is the first NTR game I ever played.
As it is usually the case with all the ‘first experiences', ‘The Tale Of A Knight's Affair' left me with an unforgettable mark in my memory lane.
First, it starts very normally.
Mars lost his parents to a monster and became an orphan.
After witnessing the bravery of the knight who saved the village, he dreams of becoming a knight and does not neglect himself from putting in vigorous efforts.
By his side always stood his childhood friend Isabelle, who always took good care of him.
To be honest, the first few hours after starting the game were wholesome, comfortably wholesome.
The fresh love story between Mars and Isabelle was quite interesting. I forgot it was an ntr game and started to enjoy playing it.
Yes. I completely forgot that I was even playing a ntr game.
As the ntr part started, as if all the starting sweet plot was only a device to make the ntr part that came after that to stand out specifically, ntr started pouring down like a relentless storm.
Thanks to which, I was left alone in raging waves, someone who was hit properly with a jab, a punch, a straight, a hook of undesirable surprises!
When I came back to my senses, the end credits are already showing up.
After that, I somehow tried to achieve the pure love ending. This is because my heart wanted to present a happy future to this poor Mars. Even though he was just a game character, this guy was like a fellow comrade who cried and laughed together with me!
But there wasn't—
—There was no pure love ending.
The only true ending is that he saves the city, gets sacrificed in process, and before he can be even labelled as the city's hero, his reputation and sacrifice is by some ntr bastards.
Ntred by his lover…
Betrayed by his colleagues…
Suddenly reminded of my past PTSD, I remember having almost stormed to the production company. If Leah hadn't been there to subdue me down, I was gonna visit for real.
At that time, I finally gave up with tears in my eyes…
Now, it's different. Because we live on the same continent.
‘Mars, let me tell you what true happiness is.’
You have to live happily.
You deserve it, dude!
I watched Mars brandishing his wooden sword diligently even at this moment.
Now, good that I found him, but how to approach him?
It was very simple.
“What a mess.”
You have to poke.
At my words, Mars stopped swinging the wooden sword he was wielding and turned around. Of course, the expression he gave was not very good.
"Who are you? I don't think I've ever seen you in the town before."
“It's just a handsome adventure passing by. I'm lodging in this town for a while, but I felt sorry for you, trying so hard, all in vain, so I thought I should talk with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You want to become a knight?”
“…from whom did you hear that?”
“I just asked, and the villagers told me. Why? Was that meant to be hidden or something?”
“It isn't like that…”
“Anyway, there's no way you will become a knight if you do that.”
Mars frowned as those words were quite offensive to him.
“If you’re here to pick a fight, why don't you just go and mind your own business?”
“Nay, I'm not here to pick anything, I’m just telling the truth. Why then? Will you like some proof?”
“…you can try, if you can, that is.”
I could see Mars's eyes, those sparks, burning with fighting spirit.
The NPCs praised him for having an out of the world fighting spirit, I was seeing that with my own two eyes.
"Great. Do you have any wooden swords left?”
Mars went into the shabby house, took out one of his wooden swords, and threw it at me.
It was a crude wooden sword that he had made by himself, perhaps because he had no money to buy one.
“Then show me now.”
“Go ahead. I'll tell you why you can't be a knight."
As soon as I had finished speaking, Mars springed up to me and swung his wooden sword diagonally. Seeing that it was full of power, it seemed that my provocation had worked off quite brilliantly.
I smirked and tilted my sword.
* * *
Currently, Mars was in a very bad mood.
Since he dreamed of becoming a knight, he never neglected a single day on increasing his efforts.
Wake up in the morning and practice with the wooden sword.
After that, help the village elders with some chores, have the afternoon meal, and then spend rest of the time on practicing with the wooden sword.
After afternoon passed, see if the village elders need any help and after that, have the dinner, and then once again—practice with the wooden sword before going to bed.
—That's how he lived.
His calluses were peeling off and the blood never stopped flowing.
That's how much his heart was desperate to become a knight. However, an unknown man who suddenly appeared out of nowhere demeaned all of those efforts.
He said that if even he did all of that, he wouldn't be able to become a knight for the rest of his life.
Anger, that's what he felt.
So he fell for the obvious provocation and started a confrontation.
‘He's an adventurer at best… my dreams are much higher than that!’
He rushed in and swung his wooden sword to bash that cheeky face. In response, the adventurer brought out his wooden sword to Mars' wooden sword.
Then something strange happened.
Obviously, Mars' wooden sword that was aimed at the adventurer's head was hitting the ground at some point.
How!
Without leaving any time for Mars to panic, he felt a heavy pain from the back of his head.
“You died there once. Will you do it again?”
“…I was a little careless.”
Mars clasped his wooden sword and striked towards the adventurer again. But no matter how many times he tried, the result was the same.
Mars' sword strikes were left bent and twisted. He couldn't even graze the adventurer's skin.
In response, Mars decided to change his ways.
‘There is no answer in running into his trap. I'd rather defend myself than do that.'
Mars posed with his wooden sword at the adventurer.
“That's what you wanna try now?”
As if to understand what he was thinking, the adventurer smiled and approached Mars.
Unlike Mars, who just blantly rushed in, he walked slowly. Those were the steps of leisure. Still, Mars was not leaving his vigilance.
Finally, it came under the range of his wooden sword. The adventurer moved the wooden sword.
‘Top right!’
Hit it!
The wooden swords collided with each other and made a murky sound.
Nice, I blocked it. If I strike back right now…
‘Huh..?'
Mars opened his eyes wide.
It was inevitable—the wooden sword that had just attacked his right side was touching his left chin before he knew it.
"How..?"
“It's not really that surprising. It's a technique that uses wrist rotation to attack twice. It’s a skill that can be learned by paying 300 gold at the local Swordsmanship guild called ‘Double Sword Strike’.”
Anyone can learn it for 300 gold…?
‘Did I just lost to that kind of skill..?’
Mars looked down at the floor with a gloomy expression.
300 gold was not a small amount of money. Mars never had even 100 gold in his hands, let alone 300 gold.
However, it was a big shock that all his efforts so far were worth less than 300 gold.
“Hey, hey! What type of face is that? Which real man makes a face like that? Dude, you can't live in this harsh world like that."
“…”
“Hey, boy, take a stance.”
"Yeah..?"
“Take a sword-wielding posture. I'll take a look."
Why this, suddenly looking at my posture?
Mars was confused, but he first took the stance he normally took while wielding a wooden sword.
The adventurer gave advice by tapping Mars's leg or waist with his wooden sword.
Mars swung his wooden sword as he advised. Then an amazing thing happened. The power of the wooden sword was much better than usual.
Looking at the adventurer with a grin, he gave a surprised look.
"How?"
"Amazing. I just changed my posture a bit, but I feel a lot stronger.”
“It's because you utilized your excess strength instead of wasting it away. Do you think your posture can be a little more stable?”
"Yeah!"
"Great. Then give me another pose.”
"Yes!"
Mars suddenly took a sideways swinging posture. The adventurer looked at his posture by tapping it with his wooden sword like before.
* * *
Three days passed like that.
In the morning, Cloud left the inn and came to Mars's house as he had promised.
After some light stretching and muscle training, Cloud's coaching began.
“That’s not it. Turn your wrist a little more.”
“What if I turn it too much and my wrist breaks?”
"Don't worry brat, I will cut off for you if that happens, I think it's better than being later crippled with both hands. Now, don’t blabber more, turn more.”
The wielding posture coaching had already ended, and now he was being taught how to do a ‘Double Sword Strike'. Unlike Cloud, who succeeded at once, Mars took quite a while.
After practicing for a few hours, the two of them took out lunch. Simple rice balls with nothing special. However, with some pickles as the side dish, Mars ate the rice ball scrumptiously.
Cloud looked at him pitifully.
“Who's snatching? Eat slowly.”
“It’s because hyung trains me without rest. As a fellow human being, shouldn’t you atleast give me time to drink water?”
“It’s all for quality training, you punk. If the real fight gets longer, and you are thirsty. Are you going to ask your enemy to wait, to take out your water bottle and leisurely drink water?”
“Ah, here we go again. I am not stupid enough to drink water in such a situation, okay?”
“Hey, look at this ungrateful punk. After letting you off the hook for a few days, now your head grew bigger, so you're talking back to your hyung?"
“That’s right, because hyung always nags me when I eat… Ouch! Why did you hit me?!”
“It seems that you lack basic respect for your hyung. I will personally engrave respect for you on your body.”
"Ah! It's hurts! Ouch, stop! It's fucking childish!"
"What? Are you even cursing at your hyung now?”
“Aaah! Hyung! Hyung! Sorry! I was wrongggggg…!”
Unlike the first meeting, which was sour, the relationship between the two was quite close now.
It was thanks to Cloud's teaching him swordsmanship, but the decisive factor was his attitude towards Mars.
Mars was an orphan who lost his parents when he was young, and he quickly grew up mentally to make a living.
There, he worked hard to fulfill his dream of being a knight, and only swung his wooden sword except for the time to eat.
Of course, he had no one whom he could claim to be his true friend from his heart deep.
So, it was natural regarding Cloud, who joked around with a light attitude, like a friend of his age and also as a reliable older brother.
“Aww! My bone! Ow! Ow! Poor boney! My broken bones!!”
Of course that's it. The endurance training is always hurtful.
That was when Mars was being beaten single handedly without effective counter-attack measures.
"Mars! W, Whoa?! What, why are you getting hit?! You baddie! Who are you beating Mars!!”
A pretty girl with long pink hair climbed up the hill and was startled to find Mars and Cloud.
She was Mars' only childhood friend, Isabelle.
Mars waved his hand with delight, and stopped at a sudden thought.
‘What if Isabelle falls for Cloud-hyung?’
Conversely, what if Cloud hyung falls for Isabelle?
Mars looked at Cloud's face, and innerly trembled with anxiety.
And meanwhile, the man in question was surprised.
Cloud was looking at Isabelle with an expression that looked like he was looking at dirty filth.
“Pink Woman[1]…”
—while muttering unknown words alongwith.
[1] It's an internet slang term coined because the images of characters with pink hair that are usually naughty. The etymology is pink hair + prostitute, and in Korean standards, the word pink woman itself is another word for a prostitute.
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