Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 312

The frigid winter had descended. The mountainous outskirts of Steden City were blanketed in snow, transforming the landscape into a pristine white wonderland. The wild animals had long since retreated into hibernation, and the streams and creeks were frozen solid, silently awaiting the arrival of spring.

A great deal had happened to Beom-seok during this time. The most significant event was undoubtedly Aula’s childbirth. It was another adorable daughter, and judging by her silver hair and blue eyes, she was the spitting image of her mother. Still, he wasn’t disappointed. No father would dislike having a beautiful daughter.

The next event was the Gods Knights achieving a record of 7 wins, 2 draws, and 9 losses during Season 18. While not a spectacular result, Beom-seok considered it satisfactory. The Gods Knights were ranked 12th in the league, far from relegation, allowing them to continue training at their current location.

Another notable event was Beom-seok playing the role of an injured player during the off-season. With Beom-seok, the Gods Knights’ main gladiator, missing 15 games, the team needed an excuse, and they settled on using his supposed injury as a pretext.

The fabricated story was that an accident occurred during excessive training, severely injuring his leg. Fans and sports media expressed great sadness at this news. This was understandable, as one of the top three contenders was now sidelined.

Consequently, he had to wear a cast on his leg whenever he ventured outside the mountainous outskirts of Steden. It was widely known that he was injured and unable to walk properly, so it would cause a major issue if he were seen walking normally by the media.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The clear metallic sound echoed through the mountains. Two gleaming silver swords repeatedly clashed, creating a tense atmosphere. Beom-seok was on the offensive, unleashing sharp attacks with fluid movements, driving Riza into a corner of the yard.

“Riza, here I come!”

At Beom-seok’s shout, she flinched and hurriedly swung her sword to defend. Riza possessed considerable swordsmanship skills thanks to Dantes’ teachings, but she was no match for him. Eventually, she was pushed back against the porch railing.

“Tch!”

Riza gritted her teeth. Beom-seok’s relentless sword strikes were proving troublesome. She longed to win at least once, but when faced with his attacks, she felt intimidated and couldn’t launch a proper counterattack.

Pushed back by the strong force, Riza moved to the side, continuing to block his sword. She managed to avoid a direct hit by focusing on defense, though she remained vulnerable to a surprise attack aimed at her weakness.

Suddenly, Beom-seok’s sword faltered. A slight gap appeared as he transitioned between striking hard and recovering his stance. Riza seized the opportunity to widen the distance and regain her composure.

Abruptly, he stopped attacking and shouted at her.

“Hey! Why do you keep doing that!”

Riza looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you attacking!”

“Well, because I’m not in a position to attack. I keep getting pushed back, so how can I attack?”

“But there was an opening just now! Didn’t you see it?”

She shook her head. She had seen it.

“Yes, I saw it. So I stepped back to regain my momentum.”

“Sigh~ Well, that’s a relief. But didn’t you feel like attacking? It would have been a great opportunity.”

“Well, maybe you were pretending to make a mistake and setting a trap. What if I fell for it and got caught?”

As she said, it was a deliberate mistake. But it wasn’t a trap at all. Beom-seok had intentionally created that opening to entice Riza to attack. If Riza had attacked at that moment, he would have been forced to relinquish the initiative.

“That’s right. It’s deliberate. Even so, don’t you know that such a big mistake would negate the meaning of a trap? If you had attacked then, I would have been completely on the defensive, unable to avoid being caught off guard.”

Riza pondered over her missed opportunity and nodded. Certainly, if she had launched a quick sword strike then, Beom-seok would have been pushed back in the momentum battle, allowing her to go on the offensive for a while.

“That’s true. But eventually, the situation would have reversed and I would have been pushed back, right? The difference in skill is inevitable.”

“Of course! But you can buy time!”

“Why?”

“Why else? Since I was in danger once, the opponent will be more careful from then on! Then they will be more cautious in their attacks, and you can lead the situation more comfortably. But if you miss that opportunity and continue to be on the defensive, the situation will be completely different. The opponent will see you as a pushover who can’t seize opportunities, and they will attack you as much as they want from then on. Then you will inevitably fall into greater danger. Whether it’s a sparring match or a real battle, defense alone is not enough. When you spot an appropriate opportunity, you must boldly strike. You can never defeat an opponent with defense alone. Got it?”

Riza nodded, finding his argument convincing. Indeed, she couldn’t inflict damage on the opponent by simply blocking.

“Yes, I understand. From now on, even if the opponent is strong, I will strike when there is an opportunity.”

“Good. I believe you can do well.”

After saying that, Beom-seok looked up at the sky for a moment. Judging by the sun touching the western mountains, he thought it would soon be dark.

‘That’s why winter is bad. Training time is too short.’

It was a shame to stop training at this time, barely before 5 p.m. But the lighting equipment here was inadequate, so he couldn’t continue training now. From now on, he had to do theoretical education through video materials.

“Okay. It’s getting dark, so let’s go in. We’ll wash up and go straight into theoretical education.”

Riza stealthily approached Beom-seok, who was putting his sword back into its scabbard.

“Um, instead of that, can’t we go out today?”

He glared at Riza. He could roughly sense her intentions.

Thanks to Beom-seok’s consideration last fall, she was able to experience civilized society, and she had become deeply enamored with its comforts. She no longer had to break the ice to bathe in this cold weather, and she could soak in a warm bath. And if she had money, she could eat plenty of food seasoned with various spices without the hassle of going hunting.

In addition, there were shops selling pretty ornaments and clothes, and TV and movies to delight the eyes… In fact, Riza was more interested in the urban life with its diverse experiences than this remote mountain corner with the same scenery every day.

‘Look at this. She’s already fallen into hedonism and is trying to neglect her swordsmanship? I need to educate her a little.’

He approached Riza with the intention of scolding her firmly. She was a human woman, so unlike the elves under his command, she could use her wiles. If he didn’t give her a mental education now, she could slack off and cause headaches when she joined the team.

“Why do you want to go out? You’re not going to say you want to go sightseeing in the city again, are you?”

Riza’s expression became urgent as she sensed Beom-seok’s anger. She knew all too well from her past experiences that she would be scolded if she said the wrong thing here. But fortunately, she had an excuse now. It was information she had learned while watching TV secretly yesterday.

“N, no, it’s not that. I want to see a game.”

“A game? What game?”

“The Steden Orions’ home game is being held at the Steden Colosseum at 7 o’clock today. I really want to go see this game. Actually, I’ve never seen a gladiator match before. I’m aiming to be a professional gladiator, so I shouldn’t be like that.”

The Steden Orions were a professional gladiator team based in Steden City. Although they were only a Wide League team, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to go and watch the game to get a feel for the atmosphere.

Some rookie gladiators struggled to perform in the Colosseum arena filled with spectators. In particular, Riza had lived in the backwoods all her life, so he thought it would be even worse for her.

He needed to gradually expose her to games from now on to alleviate the shock.

“Hmm. Well, it wouldn’t be bad to go out then. Shall we go?”

Riza nodded excitedly. In any case, if she went out, she could naturally enjoy the culture of the city.

“Yes. Then let’s go quickly. The game starts in two hours, so we have to hurry.”

“Alright.”

Beom-seok immediately went inside the house, changed his clothes, wrapped his leg in a half-cast, and prepared a walking aid. It would be a big problem if people recognized him when he went out in his normal state. It was known to the public that he was currently focusing all his efforts on recovering from his injury in a quiet rural town.

After completing all the preparations, he and Riza took the flying car parked in the backyard and headed to Steden City.

Arriving at the Steden City Colosseum, Beom-seok immediately went to the ticket office and bought two tickets. Although there was still an hour left, he decided that it would be better to enter the stadium now, when there were not many people yet.

The place he settled in was the south stand. It was the cheering section for the away team, the Hopen Irix. Since there would be fewer people than in the north, where the home fans were seated, the possibility of his identity being revealed was lower.

“How is it? Are you satisfied now?”

Riza had an excited expression on her face. She was fascinated by the various people filling the Colosseum. She had been coming to the city often recently, but this was the first time she had been to a place with so many people gathered.

“Yes. It’s very good. I hope we can come often in the future.”

“Okay. It’s the winter vacation season now, so we won’t be able to come for a while, but let’s come often from the spring season. Watching the game directly is more helpful in getting a feel for the atmosphere than watching it on TV.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

Beom-seok, with a satisfied expression, called over a passing unmanned vending robot, inserted coins, and pulled out two hot dogs and two 500cc colas. He hadn’t had dinner yet because he had come in a hurry. The game time was up to 150 minutes, so it was better to fill his stomach first.

He handed Riza a hot dog and a cola and said.

“Riza, eat first. You can’t concentrate on the game if you’re hungry.”

“Yes. I’ll enjoy it.”

She took a sip and then took a bite of the hot dog. The sight reminded him of a cunnilingus scene, and Beom-seok swallowed hard.

Her favorability rating had skyrocketed over the past few months of living together. Thanks to this, he could kiss her without any difficulty, and if there was an opportunity, he could spend the night with her.

It was all due to intensive management, and he thought it wouldn’t be bad to adopt this method often when targeting other women in the future. If his relationship with another woman became known, he would have to bring her favorability rating almost to the extreme to be able to target her, so it was quite a hassle.

“By the way, Riza. You’ve had a lot of social experience, so do you understand the relationship between men and women now?”

“Yes. I know roughly now.”

That was fortunate. Beom-seok had suffered a lot because of her innocence before. Now that she knew, things were moving faster.

“Really? That’s a relief. You’ve been an adult for quite some time, so you need to know what you need to know.”

Riza stared blankly at him and began to ask questions.

“But, Master. There’s something I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“About the relationship between men and women. Why do they do that?”

Beom-seok was embarrassed because she had poked at a difficult part to answer. But as he had just said, Riza was also an adult, so she needed to know what she needed to know. Frankly speaking, it could be said that it was too late.

“W, well. It’s to make babies.”

Riza tilted her head.

“I heard that babies are born in culture tubes?”

This question was almost on par with saying that babies are picked up from under the bridge. It was true that they were picked up from under the bridge, but not that bridge. Similarly, although babies in this era are generally born in culture tubes, if you go deeper, the story is completely different. The factors of two men and women were absolutely necessary for a baby to be born.

“Hmm. That’s true. But there’s a tricky problem, so that kind of thing happens. Originally, people produce offspring through the process you know. The reason why culture tubes are used is because of social problems.”

“Ah. Is that so? Then what’s the need for culture tubes?”

“Why isn’t there a need?”

“You said that babies are born when men and women fight?”

“When did I say that?”

“I just asked you. Why do men and women do that? I’m saying that I don’t understand why they live like enemies, saying they’re men and women, when they can get along like you and me.”

Beom-seok scratched his head, feeling awkward. It seemed that the focus of the conversation was greatly misaligned.

“Ah? Was that what you were talking about?”

“Yes. Is there another story?”

“Yeah. What about… men and women sleeping in the same room at night?”

Riza looked at him with an innocent expression.

“Oh, do babies get born if men and women sleep together at night?”

“O, of course.”

She poked Beom-seok in the side.

“Hey, don’t lie. If that were the case, I would have had a baby already. I’ve been sleeping with Father Chuqi since I was young.”

Beom-seok immediately wiped his face. Her innocence, to the point of ignorance, was no different from before. It seemed that if he didn’t step in and give her a proper education, she would remain a natural monument forever.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

Everyone, have a nice day. I’ll see you again tomorrow.