270. Bottchi the Alice (2)

It’s a long walk from that cliff.

We were able to arrive at the inspector’s residence.

“······Wow.”

“······Hmm.”

‘oh.’

Lee Yuri and Kang Dohee burst out in admiration.

I too looked at the building in front of me with wide eyes.

The Forest of Swords.

The residence where the inspector resides is certainly grand and worthy of its name.

There were huge windows on both sides of the main gate, and the pure white fog underneath gave it an even more mysterious feel.

How can such a large house be located halfway up a mountain?

And it was questionable how they could have noticed such a huge house only when they got this close.

at that time.

Squeak-

The door opened with a creaking sound, as if the hinges were being torn apart.

And the person who appeared in the middle of that door.

Hair that is shiny and pure white.

Blue eyes that look like the blue sky.

A pale complexion and a cold, indifferent atmosphere.

The culprit who brought me into this world.

The woman who laid the foundation for me to live in this world.

Alice.

It was her.

‘It’s the real thing.’

I couldn’t take my eyes off her and opened my mouth when I saw her in real life, something I had only seen in illustrations.

‘Really, Alice is real.’

Why did I empty my already poor wallet to pick Alice?

Because it’s a limited new character?

Because her performance is crazy?

Velvetsra production company has been making all kinds of noise for the past three months?

Not all of them.

From the beginning, all that was revealed about Alice was that she was the granddaughter of the sword master, and that her real name was Kim Mal-sook.

And it was just battle motions and illustrations.

The problem is that illustration.

It was because the appearance of ‘silver hair and blue eyes’ hit the nail on the head with my taste.

Unlike other kids who delved deeply into personal stories, I knew the person’s face but didn’t know much about him.

I felt a strange sensation as if I was encountering Velvetsra’s ‘character’ for the first time.

‘But······. What is it?’

I stared at her and tilted my head to the side.

Eyes trembling without reason.

Twitching lips that open and close again and again.

Even my two hands were shaking slightly for some reason.

Because it became a habit to always look at the face of the teacher who was always quiet and had delicate expressions.

I could sense her emotions right away.

‘Confused······. What the? What, wasn’t I supposed to come out to greet you?’

I thought it would be like that because he opened the door and came out right when we got to the main gate.

I guess that wasn’t the case.

“······.”

“······.”

They stared at each other in silence for a long time.

I spoke first because Kang Do-hee was squirming next to me.

“Hello. We are students of the Velvet Hunter Academy who came to the Forest of Swords after being introduced by Director Lina.”

The pupils of his eyes suddenly grew as big as lanterns.

“Hey, Hunter Academy······!?”

Alice was so embarrassed that she even stammered.

“Yes, so······. I, I came to see the inspector. Would it be okay if I asked you to show me around?”

slap.

Alice turned around and started walking.

Towards the closed door.

thud!

thud!

thud!

She banged her head on the closed door three times.

And that too, incredibly hard.

‘It must hurt.’

“······What is this? Is this some kind of ritual of the sword master?”

“Hmm, I’ve heard rumors that the swordsman is an eccentric person······. He’s definitely a bit strange.”

Behind them, Yuri Lee and Dohee Kang whispered.

Alice’s ears turned bright red as if she had heard all of that.

thud.

Alice bangs her head against the door again.

I couldn’t stand to see that anymore so I stepped in.

“That······. There, it says that it was at that time······.”

“ah.”

She opened her mouth and made a puzzled expression, then bit her lip and pulled the door open.

Squeak─

“Is that a little lacking? Hmm, you don’t look young, that’s too bad.”

“Hey, your voice is too loud! Kang Do-hee!”

“Your voice is louder.”

I chuckled.

‘Sure, they know how to create characters. Those Velvets production team······.’

A character with an originally cold personality and cold appearance.

Isn’t it the sight of a blind man with a screw loose that causes the gap?

This was a major taste.

The production staff were always the ones who would swear at me every morning and every night, but this time I could acknowledge them.

* * *

“Grandma······. I brought you.”

Taat!

Alice, her forehead red, guided us to the swordsman with quick steps.

It disappeared from that spot.

In the middle of the training ground.

There was a woman holding a pipe in one hand and inhaling the smoke from her cigarette.

Sup─

“Huh······. It was you guys? That kid sure was flustered.”

The swordsman looks at me and my party members while snorting.

I too looked at her inwardly and admired her.

Because she looked much younger than expected.

‘Wasn’t the original inspector a grandmother······?’

Since Alice was the granddaughter of the swordsman, I naturally thought of an old man.

Far from being old, she was a beauty with her purple hair tied up in a ponytail.

‘It was said that if you originally had mana, aging would progress slowly······.’

Even so, does he look this young?

At that moment, her gaze, which had been scanning us closely, stopped on me.

A new interest appeared on the face that had previously seemed bothered by everything in the world.

“Is this an object?”

Oh, right.

By the way, Director Lina wrote me a letter of introduction and told me to show it to you when I meet the inspector.

I rummaged through my pockets to try to get the paper out.

“Okay.”

She was the first to shake her head and take the lead.

“yes?”

“Anyway, it must have been the letter of introduction written by that little girl, Lina.”

I nodded with a trembling face.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well, I guess you want me to teach you how to use a sword. But are you the only one who uses a sword?”

“Yes, yes! I am a tank!”

“It’s a fight.”

Lee Yuri and Kang Dohee answered in a cheerful voice.

“Well, okay. Okay. It’s been a while since that kid sent me a guest… I can’t ignore him. Come with me.”

She quickly turned around and walked first.

My party members and I looked at each other and then followed her.

He was a person with a strong sense of his own pace.

* * *

The place the inspector took us to was the back of the building.

“·····Here.”

I let out a bewildered voice as I looked at the scenery there.

The inspector nodded.

“Yes, it’s called the Forest of Swords. That’s why it’s called the Forest of Swords.”

There were literally huge, sharp blades stuck in there, as densely as trees.

A sharp, sharp blade.

The gap between the blades seemed too narrow for a person to pass through.

Crunch─

At that moment, a leaf carried by the wind was cut in half when it touched the blade.

“First of all, getting through here is the first step.”

She shrugged.

“Well, well. If you suddenly ask me to do something like this, I guess I’ll be flustered, Malsuk.”

Okay then.

Alice, who had appeared from behind, walked quickly and stepped forward in front of the inspector.

She kept her mouth shut and glared at the inspector.

“Please show me a demonstration.”

She took a deep breath and kicked her foot.

I flew into the forest of swords.

Taat!

Whirilirik─

Alice twists her body and moves forward at high speed.

The sharp blade swept across her body.

Alice’s expression remained calm the whole time.

“You can go through the Forest of Swords like this. You can go all the way to the end and then come back here. How about it? Can you do it?”

The inspector looked at us and smiled faintly.

‘······Can you do it?’

I couldn’t help but look puzzled.

Yeah,

Because it was too easy.

I’ve already done this training.

That was the training my teacher gave me less than two months after I entered the academy.

Training where you throw yourself into a virtual space densely filled with swords and run at top speed there.

After training like that for about a week, the sword started moving on its own.

After another week or so, the Master’s sword energy flew in, taking advantage of an opening.

I turned my head and looked at the party members.

They too had puzzled expressions on their faces.

The training I learned from the instructor was also passed on to the Utopia party.

That means, Lee Yuri and Kang Dohee have already experienced this training a long time ago.

‘Hmm······. My body and mana are somewhat limited, so it’s a bit annoying······. But whatever.’

Even when my physical abilities were much worse than they are now, I was able to do it as easily as breathing.

How could it not be possible?

Let’s just stare at it like that.

The inspector opened his mouth.

“Would this be too difficult from the start? If so······.”

“No. I’ll try.”

I cut her off for a moment.

okay.

Come to think of it, the inspector still doesn’t know the level of our party.

So, at first, we will try to figure out our level with very basic training.

If you can show me how to get through this easily, I’ll probably adjust the training to your level.

Taat!

With that thought, I threw myself toward the forest of blades as fast as I could.

And the other party members also followed me and kicked their feet.

* * *

‘Hmm, I guess it’s too difficult for kids······.’

The children that Lina sent to train.

At first, when he first saw those children, he was quite surprised.

Because the level of physical training and mana energy felt was unusual.

Even here, due to the peculiar atmosphere, physical abilities and mana are almost at rock bottom.

Even so, the fact that it feels like that means that those kids are among the strongest.

Especially the black-haired boy among them.

That kid was really special.

It’s almost like it reminds me of that monster-like brat Baek Seol-hee I met in the past······.

‘No. That can’t be true.’

Because there’s no way there’s another guy like that in this world.

Still, since she felt something unusual, she decided to try the Forest of Swords, which was quite difficult.

Then, their confusion was visible to the eye.

‘Did I go too far from the start······?’

however.

Her thoughts were shattered in an instant.

“uh······!?”

Bam.

Degururur─

The bear he was holding fell to the floor.

“Wh, what······!”

Her eyes, which had been folded languidly, suddenly lit up with madness.

“My, my sword! That child must inherit my sword!!!”