Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 69

Chapter 69: You, a Mage, is Fighting a Knight in Close Combat?

Weija stood on the perch not far away, watching a Mage and a Knight draw swords against each other in preparation for close combat.

Gwen wore standard-issue armor protecting every part of her body. Then there was Viktor.

Beneath his Coat, his entire body was wrapped in armor kit—he looked every bit like a Knight in full kit.

All of this had been forced onto him by Gwen.

Although Viktor had kept insisting that his Coat offered more than enough defense on its own, Gwen refused to believe it.

What kind of defense could that ratty Coat possibly provide? It had nothing going for it except looking good.

Viktor noted that he was quite happy to hear that.

So under Gwen's repeated insistence, he ultimately agreed to wear the armor.

The mont he buckled on the helt, Viktor stood in place—longsword in hand, armor on his body, with the Coat layered over the top of it—looking thoroughly mismatched.

Kavra sat not far from the Training Ground watching it all, her face full of puzzlent and confusion.

She had co to spectate, and was also prepared to step in and pull Viktor out if Gwen went too hard on him.

That said—she was still completely baffled.

What on earth were these 2 up to?

When she heard Viktor suddenly propose a spar with Gwen, Kavra had assud Viktor had finally co to his senses and knew to co nurture the relationship with Gwen.

Then Viktor put forward an utterly unexpected condition—no Magic, purely close-quarters sparring.

Kavra was dumbstruck.

Hold on—you're a Mage, and you want to go hand-to-hand with a Knight?

She had been about to tug Gwen's sleeve and quietly tell her to turn it down.

After all, she knew exactly what Gwen was like—once a fight started, she would go full force without question.

Getting hurt was one thing, but she was mainly worried about Viktor losing face if he lost.

That would be terrible for the relationship between the two of them.

But Gwen accepted as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Kavra stood nearby in utter bewildernt watching the 2 of them take their places at the Training Ground.

I just hope my little brother-in-law doesn't get beaten too badly.

Kavra prayed silently in her heart—please, don't let this damage the bond between them.

"Little Gwen, go easy on Viktor if you have to."

Gwen asked:

"Are you ready?"

Viktor held his sword in 1 hand and gave a nod.

Although Gwen didn't understand why Viktor was holding his sword single-handed, she had once seen him handle her own blade before.

Her Silver Blade had been toyed with casually in Viktor's grip.

That ant Viktor had absolutely trained with a sword—if she underestimated him, things could genuinely go sideways.

On top of that, there was that strange, inexplicable irritation simring in her chest, making her feel the persistent urge to give Viktor a good beating.

So from the very first exchange, Gwen ca in at full force!

Gwen charged in with a fierce burst, swinging her longsword—like a ferocious beast hurtling forward with a roar.

Viktor instinctively raised his longsword to block.

Clang!

Viktor's movents were fluid and practiced. He deflected Gwen's first strike cleanly, though the sheer force behind it still drove him back several steps.

He felt his sword arm go numb with a buzzing ache, and couldn't help a few inward grumbles.

This strength—she really doesn't hold back.

Although the current Gwen was nowhere near as powerful as she would be in the future, she was still a Knight who had fought through countless battles.

Combat triggered. Gwen's Level and Health Bar lit up.

Lv31.

Converted—a Knight who had just stepped into the 3rd-Tier range.

About the sa level as Chuer.

But Gwen was naturally stronger than Chuer, both in raw strength and technique.

Viktor probed at Gwen's capabilities, turning it over quietly in his mind.

Kavra off to the side had both hands clamped over her eyes, too afraid to look—she had no desire to watch her little brother-in-law get knocked flat on the ground in a single blow. That would be far too embarrassing.

Her body had already instinctively broken out in goosebumps as she collapsed internally:

"Oh no, oh no, this is too humiliating!"

The words had barely finished crossing Kavra's mind when she heard a rapid clang-clang-clang of tal clashing against tal. She spread her fingers apart and peered through the gap.

And then—

"Huh?"

How was Viktor managing to hold his own against Gwen?

Although Viktor was clearly at a disadvantage, being pushed back by Gwen, the completely one-sided disaster she had been imagining never ca.

Hold on, what???

Was Viktor really a Mage?

Gwen planted her foot and thrust forward, lunging hard in Viktor's direction.

The ground erupted in a spray of sand and pebbles, and riding that explosive burst, Gwen crossed the distance in an instant—arriving right in front of Viktor at a breathtaking speed.

Gwen swung a sweeping slash aid at Viktor's lower half. Viktor instinctively leapt up into the air, dodging the blow.

He adjusted his posture mid-air—but before he could even land.

The next second, Gwen's follow-up attacks ca one after another.

Viktor adjusted his stance, braced his sword in front of him, and barely managed to hold.

But under that relentless barrage of blades, several scratches still appeared across Viktor's armor.

Viktor seized the opening to swing a strike back at Gwen.

Gwen's eyes went wide—she hadn't expected Viktor to actually manage to pull free and counter-attack in the middle of such a dense offensive.

She snapped back half a step, narrowly dodging that sudden swing.

By this point in the fight, Gwen found Viktor's ability genuinely hard to believe.

She had known he could use a sword, but she hadn't imagined Viktor would handle himself this naturally.

The fact that they were even at this stalemate was only because Viktor, being a Mage, lacked the raw physical strength to match her.

If Viktor's strength were any greater—would she be the one being driven back?

Still, Gwen didn't let up on account of this. Instead, she raised her longsword once more and brought it chopping straight down at Viktor.

Viktor landed on the ground, eyes locked tight on the longsword descending toward him.

He was waiting—waiting for the sword to fall.

The instant Gwen's longsword was about to cleave down onto his face, in a single flash, Viktor's hand that had been kept empty all this ti lit up with a round shield!

Claaang—!

A crisp, sharp ring reached Viktor's ears.

He watched as Gwen stumbled back several steps and shook her head with a dazed, staggered look about her.

He'd done it—he had successfully parried Gwen's attack.

Viktor was thoroughly satisfied.

The effect of 【Evil Knight】 had delivered exactly what he hoped for. With this, even against an opponent whose close-combat ability far surpassed his own, he could hold his ground with ease.

Gwen recovered quickly—the stagger hadn't dealt her much lasting effect.

Even so, his own Mage's physical constitution had reached its limit. He had no energy left for another exchange like that.

Viktor was breathing hard. Without the enhancent of Magic, close combat against a Knight like Gwen was genuinely pushing it.

So he signaled Gwen to pause.

"Take a break."

Viktor sat with a faint swell of emotion now stirring inside him.

This was the first ti since coming to this world that he had felt this kind of pure, unclouded release.

The dull ache of exhausted muscles. The satisfying rush of a hard-fought bout. The fight with Gwen had given him back a sense of sothing real.

Gwen stopped as well. She wasn't particularly tired, but she had gone quiet.

Viktor had genuinely surprised her.

Gwen could tell—Viktor was exceptionally practiced with close combat.

His fighting technique, his experience, his sharp and imdiate reaction ti—all of it told Gwen that the man across from her was a seasoned veteran who had fought through countless battles.

And yet his physical constitution simply couldn't match the combat experience he clearly possessed.

Also—what was with that round shield in his hand?

Kavra watched the 2 of them stop and hurried over, handing Viktor water and a towel.

Viktor took them and gave a brief word of thanks.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel, and was just about to unscrew the water bottle and drink—when Gwen's sharp remark cut in.

"Drinking water right after intense exercise is bad for you."

"……"

Viktor set the water bottle down.

He had no choice—he suddenly rembered those were the exact words he had once said to Gwen.

She really did hold a grudge.

After resting for a while, once the sweat had faded, Viktor finally took a drink.

Then Kavra grinned and pointed at herself out of nowhere.

"Viktor, you're pretty impressive, aren't you."

"How about a round with your big sister-in-law?"

Viktor was quiet for a mont, then picked up his sword from the ground and gave Kavra a light tap on the shoulder. Kavra blinked, caught off guard.

Shortly after, Viktor's gaze landed on the Level floating above Kavra's head.

Lv39.

Viktor didn't engage with Kavra. He had rested enough—he stood up and looked over at Gwen, giving a slight tilt of his head.

"Let's keep going."

***

Several hours later, Viktor sat on the ground completely without dignity, armor removed, drenched in sweat.

Gwen sheathed her sword, and said with what seed like a asure of satisfaction:

"Not bad."

"I don't know why you suddenly felt like picking up the sword, but if you ever need to practice again, I……"

All of a sudden, Gwen faltered, her voice stumbling over itself.

"I……that is……morning practice, I have ti in the mornings……"

Having let those words out, Gwen felt a pang of annoyance. Would Viktor read sothing into that?

It was her own fault for speaking too quickly—Viktor hadn't even asked, and yet here she was volunteering.

Viktor's response, however, was:

"Thank you, I do need it."

He had rested enough. He cast a cleaning spell, and the sweat on his body vanished.

Gwen watched Viktor go from drenched to dry in an instant, and felt an unexpected stab of envy.

Viktor gave her a nod and said:

"I'll be leaving now, Gwen. I still need to go and teach the Princess today."

Gwen knew he had real business to attend to, so she gave a nod in return and didn't say much else.

Viktor suddenly turned to her with a question:

"Does your family have any spare refined steel you could sell to ?"

Refined steel—a Knight family like the Delins would never be short of it.

After all, both weapons and armor required vast quantities of refined steel in their making.

Gwen gave a nod, though she was still a little puzzled:

"What do you need refined steel for?"

It didn't occur to her to connect it to any sort of class change for Viktor—was he perhaps planning to gather so family Knights now that he had been elevated to Count?

"Have so prepared for . I have a use for it."

"Here. Take this."

Viktor pulled out a sheet of golden Parchnt and held it out to Gwen.

"What's this?"

Gwen took it and asked curiously.

"Once the refined steel is ready, you can use this to find where I am directly."

Viktor said no more, and turned to leave.

Gwen gave a dazed nod, standing in place as she watched Viktor walk away, the Crow perched on his shoulder at so point without her noticing.

Viktor walked further and further until his figure disappeared entirely. Gwen was still standing there in a daze. Kavra noticed and nudged her with an elbow.

"Hey, hey—still watching? He's long gone."

Gwen snapped back to herself and hurried to explain.

"I was just about to ask whether he'd eaten breakfast……"

Kavra heard this and imdiately started teasing her again:

"Oh? So our little Gwen isn't angry anymore?"

Gwen turned her head away and defended herself as though throwing a small fit:

"I was never angry in the first place."

Kavra watched Gwen with a playful look and asked in a low voice:

"Really not angry?"

Seeing no reaction from Gwen, she went on with a dramatic sigh:

"Honestly, Viktor really……at the banquet that day, our little Gwen dressed up so beautifully, and he didn't even co over to look at her once."

Gwen puffed out her cheeks and argued back at Kavra: "I'm really not angry!"

Hearing Gwen's stubborn insistence, Kavra continued to hold back a smile and offered a soothing pat: "Alright, alright—not angry, not angry."

But after all the teasing, Kavra's expression grew a shade more serious. She looked at Gwen and asked:

"So—did you test him?"

"Your Heart of Justice—did it really……fail to activate?"