Chapter 3 : Friendly Duel

"Your wound is still bleeding, we need to go home so that Sela can treat you," Nina said with a worried look on her face.

We walked back to the palace, and when we arrived it was long after dark. We were late because we had taken a different path through the forest to avoid meeting those two men again. Yuna opened the door for us and said in amazement, "M...what happened to you? Why are you so dirty? And why are you injured in your arm?"

I said, "I'm sorry, we dropped the supplies on the way."

Then Nina cried and ran towards Yuna and threw herself into her arms and said, "I was so scared."

Yuna patted her head and said, "It's okay, little one, I'm here."

If I hadn't seen her real mother today, I would have thought she was Yuna .

Yuna took my arm and said, "We'll take you to Sela to treat you."

I said, "It's not important, I'll just stitch it up, I'm used to this, and it's also a simple wound."

She shouted at me and said, "You idiot, it doesn't look like a simple wound at all."

"In fact, I don't..." And before I could finish my sentence, she interrupted me:

"Stop talking, and let's go. We were worried about you a lot, I was getting ready to look for you."

Nina cried, saying, "I'm sorry, it was my fault. I insisted on visiting my father and because of me, Jin was injured."

Yuna wiped her tears and comforted her, and then we went to Sela. She was using the power of water, I heard that it is the best element for healing.

She said, "What happened to you?"

Yuna replied, "No time, Sela, please treat his arm."

"Okay."

When she started treating my arm, they all stood as if they had frozen in place.

Sela said, "It's impossible! Why isn't anything happening?"

I said, "I tried to tell you. Magic healing doesn't affect me. In fact, no type of magic affects me."

Yuna said, looking tense, "First, you have one element. Now magic healing doesn't affect you. I don't know how you survived in this world so far."

Everyone fell silent, and I didn't speak, but I felt their gazes with concern. It was as if they were saying to themselves, "What a strange person! Can we really trust him?"

Yuna then sewed up the wound. It wasn't very deep. My sword had softened the blow a little.

She looked at us, then asked, "So what happened?"

Nina told them what happened, except for the part about the transition between the shadows. I told her not to tell anyone about my power.

After hearing the story, she said in a low voice, "The important thing is that you are both okay and thank you, Jin , for saving Nina."

"You're welcome. It was my responsibility."

Nina didn't speak after that. It may have been due to the shock of what happened.

I asked them, "Where are Ren and Lady Isabella? I didn't see them when we arrived."

"They went to the city with Claudia and won't be back until tomorrow. Now go to sleep, it's late."

I went to my room but I couldn't stop thinking about those two people. How did they discover our presence while we were hiding? Their strength and speed were great. I couldn't keep up with the person who injured me.

I sighed, saying, "It looks like I'm going to face a lot of trouble in this place." Soon after, sleep overcame me because I was exhausted.

I woke up very early the next day and then went to get the supplies we had left and also brought my broken sword. When I returned, I found Sela watering the plants in the garden.

When she saw me, she said, "Hello, what?! Did you go and bring them alone?"

"Yes."

She said firmly, "Don't go alone again. We don't know if you'll meet those two people again."

I asked her, "Excuse me, do you know anyone who repairs swords in a nearby area?"

She said with frustration, "Do you ignore what I just said? I think the only blacksmith nearby is in a village far to the north of here. It may take three hours by carriage."

"Okay, thanks."

I spent most of the day cleaning. While I was busy working, Yuna came to me and said that I could take a break. She said that they were almost done, and that Ren, Isabella, and Claudia would be back soon. It was late in the day, so I wanted to practice using the sword a little.

As I was doing so, I heard a voice say, "You're really good with the sword." I turned around and saw Ren.

I said, "Oh, hello. Did you get back from the city?"

He said, "Yes, we just arrived."

I don't like to ask too many questions, so I preferred not to ask about the reason for their trip in the first place.

Ren said, "Hey, Jin, what do you think of a duel?"

I asked him, "I heard you're a summoned hero from another world, is that true?"

Ren replied, "Yes, that's true."

I said sarcastically, "So, I'm never a match for you."

He said, "Don't worry, it's just a duel. Winning or losing doesn't matter. I just heard that there will be a competition soon between the knights of the noble families, and I want to test my strength."

I wanted to say, "Go and try your strength on someone else," but I wanted to show him this power that Nina told me about.

I said, "Okay, how will the duel be? Can we use swords?"

He replied, "Use whatever you want, but I won't use a weapon."

I was surprised. "What? Are you kidding?"

Ren smiled and said, "Don't worry, I prefer to use my hands only."

He seemed very confident, so I had to be careful.

He said, "Okay, Jin, start when you're ready."

I attacked with my sword quickly, but Ren blocked the blow with his hand only, using the power of wind. Then he kicked, and a rock rose into the air. I kept my balance and quickly backed away before it hit me.

"It seems he wasn't just bragging about using only his fists. He's blocking my sword with his bare hands and doesn't get scratched. And on top of that, he's fast. I can't change my attack pattern. He's leading the fight where he wants, using wind for attack and earth for defense at the same time."

"Are you okay? You look tired. We haven't started yet." I couldn't answer, because I didn't realize he was that strong.

Ren hit me with a fist like a storm. I blocked it with my sword, but it was too strong. So I didn't have time to move my sword to block the second blow. I put my arm in front of my face, but the second blow threw me back. I kept rolling, but I quickly regained my balance and stood up.

It seemed that I would use the power of darkness. I didn't want the fight to end with me being crushed like that.

I started attacking again, but this time I left my sword, because it was weighing me down and was useless against Ren. I was able to avoid some of his attacks, and with the help of the power of darkness that surrounded my body, I was able to keep up with him a little, because it increased my speed and physical strength.

And before the fight took a different turn, I heard a loud voice saying, "What are you doing, you idiots?"

I turned my head and saw Lady Isabella, the mistress of the Palace.

Ren, who was confused, said, "Ah, hahaha, we were just..."

I said, "We were practicing."

"Yes, yes, we were practicing together."

"Don't try to fool me. I know you asked him to do this, Ren. And it didn't look like training at all. I can't believe you followed this idiot, Jin. I thought you were smarter than this. The important thing is that lunch is ready. Let's hurry up."

Ren stopped smiling and said, "Thank you for the practice. We'll finish our duel later, but you need to improve yourself so you don't lose to me."

I said, "Next time will be different."

He smiled lightly and left with Isabella.

Ren returned to the castle, but I continued to train until late. When I returned, I found Yuna standing at the door with a look of anger on her face. She said, "Hey, why didn't you come to eat lunch? Didn't Lady Isabella call you?"

"Ah...well...I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention to the time."

She stared at me for a moment and said, "Hmm, no, you deliberately delayed, you're bad at lying."

"Anyway, I'll go to the kitchen to help Nina with the work."

I said, "Okay."