5. not giving up (2)

Don’t take the screening test.

It was the same as telling him to give up being a knight. It was a story that would have angered anyone who heard it, not just Maxim. However, upon hearing that, Maxim did not raise an eyebrow.

Maxim expected Christine to say something like that from the beginning. And I knew very well why she said that.

“I knew you would say that.”

“…Then it sounds like the answer has already been decided.”

Christine groaned. Maxim simply smiled. Christine saw Maxim’s smile and pursed her lips slightly.

“You know, Vice-captain. If you’re overdoing it in that state…”

“yes. I know.”

“But why…!”

Christine raised her voice a little, as if frustrated. Maxim just laughed at her attitude.

“Will I have to die? It will hurt for a few days.”

“What hurts…”

Christine shook her head as if she couldn’t agree with Maxim’s words. Her long blonde hair swayed together like waves. Christine made up her mind for a moment. It seemed that he was choosing what to say because he couldn’t speak easily. While she was hesitating, Maxim hit the ball.

“it’s okay. It’s because you don’t overdo it.”

“You’re going to overdo it, saying that. How can I not overdo it in the test that the knights take?”

Maxim smiled as if he was troubled. Christine didn’t like Maxim’s attitude.

“So you’ve been wielding a knife since morning. Suddenly, I wondered what was going on.”

“It won’t cause any trouble to you.”

“It doesn’t matter if it bothers me or not.”

Christine clenched her fists. It looked like he wanted to hit Maxim’s smiling face.

“I’ll pass without hesitation. Could it be that I can’t even do that?”

“Don’t do it. Even if you draw a little bit of strength, you will be stumbling.”

Maxim raised only one corner of his mouth and raised his arms as if to show off his biceps. Christine rubbed her head against the rising headache.

“I won’t be empty. He has recovered quite a bit.”

“…that’s all I helped. Are you going to turn my efforts into stilettos?”

When Christine sighed, Maxim’s expression changed slightly. You must feel sorry for Christine. Christine felt even more frustrated with Maxim’s emotions changing so quickly.

“Don’t make that face. weaken your mind.”

Maxim quickly hid his expression after hearing Christine’s words. That man, you shouldn’t gamble. Christine thought so.

“It’s just that you don’t have to do anything to help me.”

“…in the end, that’s for the best.”

how is it? As if asking, Maxim shrugged. Even if you pretend to be fine, if you use your strength, you will be the one who will risk your life.

“Even if you don’t overdo it, you have to use your strength anyway if you go to the front line.”

Christine was almost grumbling. Maxim felt sorry and grateful at the same time to see Christine worrying about him.

“In the first place, it was a decision I had to make someday in order for me to remain as a knight. I was just averting my eyes from the problem.”

“There is another way. If it’s the vice-captain, you can go to the instructor’s side…”

“Go to the academy again? I can’t do that. Even if I die, I will die fighting on the frontlines as a knight.”

Maxim bluffed and waved his hand. It was said to make her laugh, but Christine’s reaction was different from Maxim’s expectations.

“I… I didn’t know it would be like this. The vice-captain said, ‘I’ll take someone who’s useful’. When I said that, I thought the treatment of the vice-captain had already been finalized.”

Christine looked at Maxim with a somewhat distressed expression.

“Because I never listen.”

Maxim felt genuinely sorry for her.

“sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me? If we continue, it will be the vice-captain who loses in the end.”

Christine turned and went, but suddenly stopped and returned to Maxim.

“One more.”

“why?”

“Why are you doing this…?”

When Maxim heard the question, he raised his head and gazed into the distance. It was as if he wanted to find something invisible to the naked eye.

“There are things that no one can give up on.”

Maxim’s determination was irreversible. When Christine realized that, her face turned grim. But before Maxim could see that expression, Christine was able to change it back to her normal expression. To Maxim’s handsome face, who turned and looked down at her, Christine declared.

“Do not work too hard. Even if you overdo it and fall down, I will never help you.”

Maxim’s eyes widened, then closed in an arc.

“yes. Okay.”

Christine resisted the urge to punch that expression once more.

—

“Whoa.”

After taking a bath, Maxim stood in front of the mirror. The strong, well-built muscles unique to knights were soaked in water and glistening. However, Maxim had one feature that stood out even more than the muscles that revealed his presence. It was a scar from the left breast to the vicinity of the pelvis. The scars were dug long, like a canyon that cuts through the ground.

that was a curse

The scars deeply engraved on Maxim’s body were literally a curse itself. The curse, which contained a very terrible resentment that a normal person would go crazy just by feeling it, had not thought of disappearing from Maxim’s body for three years while hiding in the scar.

Oddly enough, I didn’t feel any pain. Maxim put his finger on the scar with a calm expression. Not to mention the pain, I couldn’t even feel the touch of the fingers I brought. The part that was left behind was already dead.

Maxim touched the wound with his fingertips. No sensation was felt in the affected area, and the fingertips felt as if they were poking pebbles rather than human skin. From the outside, it was already a healed scar, but inside it was already rotten.

“It’s like someone else’s body.”

Maxim muttered his impressions as if he were talking about others.

If you don’t forcefully draw out strength and mana, this wound won’t kill you. Originally, he should have turned into a cold corpse by now, but his encounter with Christine at the Raven Knights miraculously extended Maxim’s lifeline.

Christine’s magic couldn’t curse it, but it could stop it from getting worse. Even today, she checks the condition of the affected area from time to time and tries to see if there is a way to cure the curse. There was no particular improvement, but Christine said she would not give up and continued to challenge. It was enough just to stop the curse’s progress.

After thoroughly wiping off the water with a towel, Maxim applied a bandage along his upper body. It may not have much effect on healing the wound, but Maxim was using the bandage to cover the wound. This was to prevent mishaps from being seen by others if the top was torn during training.

“…not going well.”

Maxim was working hard on the bandage today so that it wouldn’t come off. The scar on the body kept reminding Maxim of a person.

Theodora.

Maxim remembered the face of his ex-girlfriend and current leader. The wound, which shouldn’t have been felt at all, seemed to ache slowly.

‘I really don’t have an answer either.’

With a body that couldn’t even listen properly, I was forced to join the knights. After meeting Christine and barely being able to control his body, he became greedy to continue living as a knight. And this time, there is hope. The hope of being able to go out on the wire. The hope that you don’t have to let go of the sword yet.

And if Theodora, Maxim, who has been appointed as the leader, refuses to take the exam, Theodora will definitely sympathize with Maxim. maybe shake And Maxim never wanted that. He would be a hundred times better off acting like a nerd and letting Theodora loathe him.

Maxim wanted Theodora to stay where she was.

Even if she was the cause of this scar and curse, she had no intention of letting Theodora know about it.

Maxim interrupted the stream of his thoughts and forced a frown on his face.

“let’s go.”

Maxim whipped himself and began to dress. The hard texture of the armor felt strange today. Dressed in armor, Maxim picked up his sword. It was nothing more than a cheap sword commonly sold at blacksmiths, which could not be called a favorite sword, but the blade that Maxim had sufficiently managed was shining sharply.

‘Is it going to rain?’

It was overcast. The sun was obscured by the clouds, letting in a little bit of light through the cracks. The swarms of dark clouds huddled together and quivered like crouching dragons.

“There, a knight from the Knights Templar passes by.”

“I heard a new manager came this time?”

“It will be the same again, man.”

Citizens murmured in a low voice. The notoriety of the Knights of the Ravens was widely known in this area, so it wouldn’t be strange to hear something like that. To Maxim, gossip from citizens was like the background music he heard every time he went to work. The guys who can’t stand him and fight are the ones who are kicked out even from the Jackdaw Knights.

Soon after, Maxim climbed the hill to the headquarters of the Knights of the Ravens. Even while walking, Maxim continued to circulate mana little by little, warming up and checking the scars.

‘it’s okay. There is nothing wrong.’

It wasn’t that I didn’t have anxiety about scars. It’s a shame because Maxim’s swordsmanship doesn’t depend on the aura blade at all, but the moment he pulls out the aura blade, the curse will start eating away at Maxim’s body again.

‘The goal is not to take out the aura blade.’

It won’t look strange. In the first place, Maxim did not use Aura Blade well unless it was an important moment. Maxim clasped and opened his hands again and again, clearing himself.

Maxim arrived at the training ground exactly on time. The usual lax vice-captain, Maxim, did not exist here. There was no sharpened momentum. Maxim’s atmosphere was very calm. It was quiet, but very deep, like the sea before a storm.

“You are here, Vice-captain.”

Christine had already arrived at the training ground. Maxim nodded, accepted her greeting, and looked around. Seven people including him and Christine arrived. The remaining twenty or so had given up even taking the test.

Theodora was standing on the podium at the training ground. Dark cloud-colored eyes resembling today’s sky lingered on Maxim for a moment. Maxim did not avoid her gaze. There seemed to be a very small ripple in that pupil, Maxim thought.

Behind Theodora stood four knights. Maxim could feel that Theodora was on a different level from the soldiers who accompanied her when she visited the knights last time. Probably the real elite knights. It was clear that he was a replacement for the Jackdaw Knights.

“Looks like everyone has gathered.”

Theodora spoke without using magic this time. Because the gathering was so small, her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Then, let’s start the screening test.”

When Theodora spoke, the four knights stepped forward at the same time. Four people set foot, but I only heard one footstep.

thud!

The knights stood proudly in front of Theodora. Theodora spoke again when the knights had finished their alignment.

“These are the knights who will be assigned to the new Knights of the Ravens.”

By this point, everyone seemed to know what the test was about.

“If you compete with these knights and hold out for more than 15 minutes, you will pass.”

“Don’t f*ck!”

It must have been a willful fool. But now this order of knights does not tolerate bullsh*t.

sereung.

Two knives were tucked under the chin of the knight who had shouted swear words before he knew it. The two elite knights, who were glaring at the member pitifully, turned to Theodora.

“Captain. instructions.”

“Please put down the knife for now.”

The knights lowered their swords. To the member whose face was dripping with cold sweat, Theodora spoke in a grim voice.

“You are eliminated. Go back.”

The member who was pointed out could not overcome the momentum of the knights and ran down the hill of the headquarters. Another member followed him down, announcing that he had given up. Five people remain. Theodora looked at the training ground as if there was no one to give up more, but no one went down further.

“If there is no one to give up more, everyone, please prepare for the contest.”

At Theodora’s words, a cloud of war enveloped the training ground. It was a tension that had never been felt in the Crow Knights. Members and knights faced each other.

Maxim estimated the strength of the knights he faced. Two male knights, two female. As Maxim felt, one of the female knights was a wizard. Maybe Christine’s opponent. Maxim glanced sideways to see where Christine was standing. Sure enough, Christine was looking at her prospective opponent with sullen eyes.

‘There’s no need to worry.’

“Christine Watson, forward.”

Breaking the silence, Theodora ordered Christine. Christine followed suit and took a step forward.

“Rione Becker, forward.”

The female knight, whom Maxim assumed was a wizard, stepped forward. A huge flow of mana began to swirl around the two wizards. The knights and members quickly retreated back to make room for the contest. After confirming that they had all retreated, Theodora opened her mouth in a nonchalant voice.

“If you are ready, please begin.”

At the same time the words fell, the two cast spells collided in the air and colored the training ground with light.