The Hall and The Wisdom

The hourglass turned, and time began to run backwards. I looked at the woman and to my surprise, she had jumped at me at high speed. I immediately raised my spear and dodged the sword attack from her.

The power was so magnificent that I couldn't stop my legs from falling back. It looks like her sword is starting to glow purple, even though she doesn't cast any skills.

"How about it, you bastard? Are you going to give up?" Ichihara asked.

I'm not giving up at all!

His sword and my spear clashed several times, making a loud shrill sound. The woman's movements were so fast that I even ran to keep her distance.

At the beginning of this fight, I firmly held back each of his attacks. My hands and feet started to hurt, and my focus started to fade as the attacks on me became more intense.

BUGH!

The woman's legs kicked me hard in the stomach, so strong that it created a wind that sent me bouncing and hitting the walls of the Hall quite hard.

Blood came out of my mouth, indicating my internal organs were injured. I stood up immediately after seeing the woman walking toward me.

These hands and feet continued to be forced to ward off the attacks made by Ichihara. Luckily she used one sword, so I could focus on anticipating it.

Every now and then, I glanced at the hourglass held by a man, only half of the sand had just passed. There's still half the sand left to finish this fight.

"Are you a knight or a wall? Attack me, you bastard!" Ichihara shouted, his face starting to turn red.

"I... won't hurt a woman," I said quietly.

Our distance is getting far; it looks like Ichihara can still stand with his sword gripped. I was already overwhelmed. My body was no longer strong enough to walk or dodge her attacks.

"I take back my word!"

My attention was distracted, not only myself but all the members in the place. They looked confused by Ichihara's decision.

"I will not send you to the Templars. If I win, I'll kill you!"

"It's the same to me," I said, meaningless.

As I focused on staring at her, I noticed a red dot in the name printed clearly in my eyes. So I snap this finger to see my status information and follow where the red dot is.

I was surprised that the red dot was in my third skill. I pressed slowly and immediately displayed the shape of people with spears pointing forward; there were many.

The name of the third skill is 'Thousand Spear'. Just as I was watching that, Ichihara seemed to be about to end this fight with the best of her abilities.

Her sword was raised high, emitting a purple light accompanied by a strong wind. Purple roses grew and adorned her sword; what a beautiful and frightening power.

"Wisdom of Rose!"

Her sword suddenly shattered and flew into a million purple rose petals. Their coming must have been dangerous for me.

It might be time for me to use my third skill.

"Thousand Spear!"

I immediately aimed this spear with the tip of the blade facing them. A red light suddenly appeared from the spear's side, revealing the figures of the same weapon in great numbers.

Right after this hand thrust forward, all the red spears that were the shadow of my weapon started flying towards them. The spear against the flower crown, if you think about it scientifically, then the spear will be the winner.

However, that is not the case in the virtual world, just as it is now. Ichihara's flower crown easily defeated my red spears and kept flying toward me.

There's nothing I can do; there's no other way to beat the best that this woman has given me. My right hand immediately let go of the grip on my spear, and the corners of my lips lifted in resignation with the situation that would befall me.

I bowed my head just as a thousand flower crowns were about to tear my body apart as they did to my shadow's spears. Then, a loud voice startled me just after I had given up everything.

"STOP!"

I lifted my head and felt a crown of flowers manage to slash my cheek until it hurt. The distance between my face and thousands of flower crowns only left a few inches.

My eyes rolled, looking at the man who screamed to stop. It turned out that he was the man in charge of holding the hourglass and what made me happy was that the hourglass indicated that Ichihara's time had run out.

"Why?" asked Ichihara. The man immediately showed the hourglass that he was holding.

"Your time is up, Lady Ichihara. He's the winner," replied the man, pointing at me with his eyes starting to turn to me.

Ichihara narrowed her eyes, her eyebrows pointed, and the woman was heard clicking her tongue several times. In the end, she is seen starting to sheath the sword and turning around, walking away from where she was standing to return.

"What a lucky one. If it wasn't for that hourglass, then you'd be dead by now with my flower crown," Ichihara snapped, sitting on her chair while looking at me intently.

"Go away and never set your foot in this place again!" Ichihara ordered firmly.

I took my spear and immediately stepped away from this dirty place. The two-meter tall door finally opened, revealing the figure of Zhao Kun facing the door.

"You did not listen to my orders. So you're the one who's affected by it yourself," said Zhao Kun.

My eyes immediately looked at Zhao, full of anger. These two hands grabbed the collar of the man's clothes in front of me hard and pushed him against the wall.

"You didn't say I had to pay for all of that! You better not save me the other day if it happened like this. Just let me be torn apart and crushed by that rotten monster," I replied, irritated and full of anger.

"We really didn't aim to save you," Zhao said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, surprised.

He suddenly pushed me away while his hands shook slowly, as if he was brushing the dust off his clothes from touching me.

Arrogant!

The door opened again, and several men came out while talking to each other. They were all people who had lined up neatly in The Hall. It seemed their meeting was over once the fight between I and Ichihara was over.

"Lord Zhao," several people greeted the man in front of me. Why did they call him Lord?

The last person to come out was Ichihara, who came with a sullen face and a strong gaze straight ahead. She immediately stopped when she found Zhao and me talking in front of the hall door.

"What's wrong with him, honey?" Ichihara asked; the call she gave was ridiculous and quite surprising.

"He! This person is truly ignorant," Zhao said.

The man pointed at me roughly, instantly sparking Ichihara's attention to look at me. They really are good at intimidating.

"I don't want to see him anymore," Ichihara snapped.

"If it wasn't for Lady Ichihara's kindness, you might have been killed by those monsters!" Zhao groaned.

I turned my face and gaze, looking at the woman beside me in surprise. I just realized that the order to save me came from the woman, not Zhao.

"Why did you save me? You know I'm the Paladin that all the Adamas in Camelot are after," I asked, curious.

"Or could it be that you did save me so that you can reap the benefits of the Three Knights Alliance? Sold me to them at the highest price," I said, continuing to be dismayed, considering she nearly killed me.

"I have nothing to do with you anymore. According to the agreement, you may go and never set your foot again in this dirty place as you say!" Ichihara snapped, walking past me with Zhao behind her.

Now I'm left alone at the door, thinking about everything I'm going to do after this. After all that had happened, I realized that her attitude was bad, as a woman or group leader.

A woman few days ago treating me have came and greeted me warmly. I looked at her; her appearance was nothing more than that of a normal adventurer.

"I overheard your conversation," the woman said, looking at the long hallway where Ichihara and Zhao were walking together.

"You treated me when I was dying. Do you know the reason they saved me?" I asked, curious.

"There isn't any. So they have absolutely no reason to save you," the woman replied. I gasped, shocked by her confession.

"Then? Why would they charge me if they didn't have a reason to save me."

"I don't really understand, but that's how The Eastern Warrior works. Those who are saved should at least give what they have to repay the debt of gratitude," the woman replied.

I just realized that somehow I owe them for saving me. If you think clearly, I'm the fool in the hall.

"Debt of gratitude?"

"Lady Ichihara is a kind and wise person. She chose to let other people repay their debts, so they don't feel burdened," the woman replied, telling how Ichihara's attitude and behaviour was.

"She will accept any gift from that person, no matter how small the price. Even she once received a shoe with holes for her services to save someone from the tiger's brunt."

I felt so guilty hearing that. I shouldn't have let my emotions and anger blind me to the good that needed to be done.

If that's the purpose of Ichihara asking for a reward, then you could say I'm the only person who hasn't paid back my debt to her.

The woman immediately walked up to me while whispering something in my left ear, "She was the most worried person when she found you arrived dying."

This really put me to the test! I never thought that Ichihara had high wisdom.