━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Is there anyone else…?”
With most of the eligible men already eliminated, one of the mature ladies gritting her teeth by the side had no choice but to reluctantly step up. “I’ll come.”
Emilia blinked. “A bit mature for my taste, and it looks like you’re already married, given how you screamed hubby when I flipped over that guy a few minutes ago? But… fine.” She grinned mischievously. “You must be really confident, huh? If you can really defeat me, I don’t mind marrying you as a mistress.”
The woman challenging her almost popped a vein, but thinking about the fate of those who scolded this girl before, she didn’t dare to voice her thoughts. If their miserable groans were anything to go by, even if the ‘flipping’ appeared to be the same, the pain they went through was completely different from the normal challengers.
It wouldn’t be funny if she got her spine snapped or something because of a moment of impulsiveness, right?
The woman sneered as she got into a fighting stance. ‘Anyway, this girl will definitely be taught a lesson once the elders get here. I refuse to believe she can continue to go on like this in front of our real strength!’
Of course, just because she didn’t charge ahead didn’t mean it took Emilia any longer to flip her over.
Even if the woman had already been resigned to such a fate and felt that she’d been prepared enough, she was still left questioning her life as she stared at the wide blue skies. ‘What the fuck have I been doing all my life, to be defeated so easily by a younger girl…?’
As someone from the Nightingale clan, she had diligently been training day and night for as long as she could remember. The only ones she could accept defeat from were those who were born stronger and more talented than her, and had also received better treatment from the clan.
But what about this girl? She was just an outsider!
Her sentiment was shared by most others who had been defeated by the mysterious girl who refused to even show her face, and if it could be seen or felt, there was no doubt that Emilia would already be blinded and drowning in their resentment.
Unfortunately, as it was, the masked girl was completely unaffected, and even clapped cheerfully. “Who’s next, then? Although I haven’t found my other half yet, I have to say, your clan sure knows how to entertain guests.”
At this point, most of the people surrounding her on the training ground were those who were certain of their defeat, given that they were weaker than those who were already groaning on the ground face up.
Obviously, none of them wanted to be beaten and humiliated in public without reason, so no one else took the initiative to step up.
Emilia tilted her head curiously, and just when a hushed argument was about to break out on who would be her next ‘sacrifice’, the crowd caught sight of a glimmer of hope.
“It’s the elders!”
“They’re here!”
Although no one said it out loud, it was clear from their tone just how relieved and overjoyed they were.𝗈𝒱𝐞𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t
With the elders here, their clan’s name would definitely not be allowed to be dragged through the mud, even if it meant calling on the strongest fighters of their clan.
Surprisingly, the elders were quite amicable to the girl in black. “Miss, I heard from these children that you have issued a challenge in hopes of finding a marriage partner?”
Emilia hummed. “That’s right. But that’s only because I heard that the Nightingale clan was full of strong fighters, so I had high hopes when I came here. So far, though, it hasn’t really met my expectations.”
While the elder who questioned her was speechless, the grand elder laughed. “How energetic! As expected of the younger generation, I suppose. Our Nightingale clan definitely welcomes someone like you, and rest assured, while some of our most talented children are quite reclusive and don’t like going out much, they would be more than happy to entertain you if I am the one making that request.”
Emilia understood that he was just trying to save some ‘face’ for their clan, but she didn’t really like how he indirectly insinuated that the people she had already defeated were talentless losers.
Well, he didn’t really say that, but still.
If she hadn’t known that he would be sending Noelle forward, she would have definitely made up her mind to pummel the next opponent into the ground, along with this arrogant old geezer.
She smiled. “If someone can really defeat me, I’ll be more than happy. After all, I also don’t want this trip to be completely fruitless.”
Seeing the grand elder nod and whisper something to the man next to him, some people couldn’t help but be curious about who they would choose.
“Who do you think they’re going to bring forward, Gildroy?”
“He’s strong for sure, but will he even listen to any of them anymore?”
The man’s behavior had left more than a few people dissatisfied, especially now that he hadn’t come forward to help defend the clan’s name.
Of course, they had no idea that a certain someone had intentionally prevented the news from reaching either of the gray-haired girl’s parents.
As the rest of the elders gave way to someone, however, everyone’s doubts were soon cleared.
“So it’s her!”
“The hidden genius raised by the elders in secret!”
“C-Can she really do it, though?”
They kept their voices hushed so as not to ‘leak’ her identity to the outsider, unaware that Emilia could clearly hear them anyway.
Obviously, they didn’t think that the elders were idiots or incompetent fools, but it was true that they hadn’t witnessed the combat ability of the girl in front of them with their own eyes.
Moreover, the ‘hidden genius’ hadn’t ever shown her ability in a real duel with any of the clan’s members, so even if she was probably ‘good’, none of them had any idea how good she really might be, so their doubts weren’t unjustified. Most of them wouldn’t even know that this girl existed if not for that one meeting where she suddenly showed up!
Noelle didn’t really mind their lack of cheering, however, and stepped forward to bow to Emilia with a polite smile. “Noelle Nightingale, please take care of me.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━