IBDFSML Chapter 20

An explosive fight was about to break out.

I looked at the five or six knights closing in around us and said.

“Sion, I think these guys are about to gang up on you. If things get dangerous, I’ll cover you, so don’t worry and go all out. Let’s take this chance to properly school them.”

To that, Sion replied with a hint of disbelief.

“That won’t be necessary. Just stay quietly inside.”

Honestly, I didn’t think Sion would lose, but since he usually tried to hide his true strength, I couldn’t predict what kind of unexpected situation might occur.

So, I entered full alert mode and glared sharply at the enemies around us.

“Come at us. Anyone who touches Sion is done for.”

“……”

Moments later—

“Coming in!”

A knight who had quietly snuck up behind Sion gave a polite warning as he charged.

Despite his large build, the knight was surprisingly swift. But Sion easily twisted his body to dodge the incoming hand and struck the knight’s side with his elbow.

Thud!

“Ugh…”

The first knight let out a sharp groan and collapsed onto the floor.

“No way!”

“Did that just happen!?”

The onlookers’ eyes widened in disbelief.

The situation was clear, a clearly seasoned knight had been taken down in one hit by a sickly(?) young man, who had just reached the age of nineteen.

Faced with that extraordinary movement, the rest of the knights surrounding Sion all froze, their expressions turning grim.

Among them, the most senior-looking knight spoke gravely.

“Avoid the vitals—restrain him from all directions!”

The other knights exchanged glances and nodded in sync. Then, they charged all at once in perfect coordination.

“Tsk.”

Sion clicked his tongue and dodged the burly men flying at him from every direction.

At that moment, the senior knight’s eyes flashed as he spotted an opening.

He aimed a knife-hand strike at the back of Sion’s neck and shouted.

“Forgive my rudeness, young lord!”

The words and actions didn’t match at all. And then—

Whoosh—

“What the…!?”

Sion caught the knight’s wrist mid-strike, used the momentum, and threw him directly onto the conference room table.

Crash!

“Gah…!”

As the senior knight failed miserably, the other knights were left stunned—bewildered, amazed, and even slightly awed.

At that moment, one of the Grand Duchess’s lackey retainers shouted, spitting in rage.

“This is infuriating! Stop holding back and use force—force!”

“But…!”

“If you fail to carry out Her Grace’s command properly, be ready to get demoted to border patrol duty!”

“…!”

“…!!”

The knights facing off against Sion showed expressions of humiliation and shame. It seemed the retainer’s petty threat had worked, as a dangerous aura began radiating from them—something different from before.

“Uwaaaah!”

The lowest-ranking knight, by the looks of it, charged at Sion with a desperate battle cry. The rest followed close behind.

Swish, thud! Bam! Crash!

Now that four strong men were charging in with real intent, Sion abandoned his relaxed stance and began responding swiftly, dodging and deflecting their attacks.

With the fast-paced scene unfolding, I kept widening my eyes, missing every chance to jump in.

‘I have to help Sion quickly!’

Then—

“…Huh?”

From Sion’s blind spot.

I spotted the senior knight—who had earlier taken a massive tumble across the table and briefly passed out—slowly rising with a crumpled body.

“…Tch.”

He shook his head to clear it, then pulled something out from inside his robe.

A chain.

“?!”

The senior knight swung the heavy, menacing chain high in the air and rushed straight toward Sion—right when Sion had his back turned, busy handling the others.

I panicked and shouted,

“Sion! Behind you!”

Then, positioning myself behind Sion’s collar, I quickly activated my fangirl power.

“<Unstoppable Devotion Attack>!”

Fwoosh—!

A heart-shaped projectile shot from my hand and hit the charging knight square in the solar plexus.

“Guhh…!”

Crash!

The knight was thrown right back onto the conference table, just like before.

“You—useless oaf…!”

The same retainer who had been barking orders clutched the back of his neck and yelled in frustration.

“Hah! Haha! How do you like that!?”

I beamed with pride at having saved Sion with quick thinking.

But then—a shadow fell over me, and something came flying straight toward me from above.

Whoosh—

“…Huh?”

It was the chain that the senior knight had dropped when my heart attack spell hit him.

And unfortunately—

Smack!

It hit me square in the forehead.

“Argh…!!!”

Stars exploded in my vision.

The intense pain from the blow made me crumple helplessly like a mosquito hit by bug spray.

But just before I hit the ground, Sion shot out his hand and caught me smoothly.

“Lin!”

Behind Sion’s startled face, I saw the rest of the knights charging in, aiming for his back.

‘Ah… Sion is in danger…’

Just then—

“Move aside—!!”

With a thunderous shout, the door to the conference chamber burst open. A tangled mass of people came tumbling in with a loud crash.

“Urgh!”

“What the—?!”

“Ah, I’m gonna die!”

The pile consisted of the two palace guards who had been standing outside, Garen stuck between them like sandwich filling, and the merchant guild’s assistant being dragged in by one of Garen’s arms.

An awkward silence fell over the room at their sudden entrance.

“…….”

“…A-And who might you be now?”

One of the elders asked them, clearly thrown off.

Garen shook off the guards and got to his feet. Then, pushing the disheveled assistant forward, he said breathlessly.

“Huff… huff… I apologize for arriving late, young lord. As you commanded, I have brought the witness who can prove the charges against Mr. Noel, the head of the merchant guild.”

And just like that, the chaotic mess finally came to a halt.

***

“Sss, ow!”

Wincing from the stinging pain on my forehead, I turned my head away from the cold compress.

“That hurts! I said it hurts.”

Elda, looking troubled, replied.

“But you have to endure it, Ms. Lin. If we don’t apply medicine now, the bump might swell worse.”

With her fingers full of ointment, she leaned in again and spoke gently.

“I’ll be really gentle this time, so please bear with it, okay?”

“Ugh, no. I don’t want it. I’m not putting anything on!”

I dodged her hand and quickly flew up. Then I escaped onto Sion’s shoulder, where he stood with his arms crossed, silently watching.

“It’s just a bump anyway! If I leave it alone, it’ll heal on its own.”

“But you were groaning in pain the whole way back to the annex…”

“When? Prove it.”

I shrugged and feigned innocence. Just then, someone’s finger pressed into my forehead again.

“Ow! What the he—!”

Just as I was about to curse through teary eyes, I saw whose finger it was—and immediately shut my mouth.

It was the delicate, jade-like hand of my ultimate bias.

Sion looked at me with his usual indifferent expression and commented flatly.

“That bump on your forehead is as solid as a rock. If you don’t treat it properly, your forehead might become deformed.”

“…What, deformed!?”

“Given how tiny your body already is, imagine adding a weird bump to that. It’d be quite the sight.”

“Ugh…!”

“So quit being stubborn and put on the ointment.”

“……”

I hesitated briefly but then gave in and plopped down.

“…Fine. I guess I have no choice.”

Showing that pathetic side in front of Sion was worse than enduring a little pain.

At that moment, Sion took the ointment from Elda and dipped his own finger into it.

“…?”

Then, with his finger coated in ointment, he motioned to me.

“This way.”

“…!!!”

I immediately leaned my head toward his finger, brushing my bangs aside and thrusting my forehead forward.

“Here! Hurry and apply it!”

With my ultimate bias personally tending to my wound, my rational mind short-circuited.

‘What I’m feeling now isn’t pain—it’s the touch of my fave.’

Caught in a mix of self-hypnosis and fluttering excitement, I closed my eyes tightly and waited.

Then, I heard a sound above my head.

Pfft.

“…?”

‘Was that… a laugh?’

I opened my eyes slightly and looked up—and then.

‘…No way.’

Sion, that very Sion, was looking down at me with the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

His expression was still cool and reserved as always, but the slight curve of his eyes and that barely-there lift of his lips—it was unmistakably a smile.

So beautiful, so refined, so rare that I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“…Sion is smiling.”

I murmured, dazed and enchanted.

Elda and Garen, hearing me, quickly turned to look at Sion’s face.

But by then, Sion had already returned to his usual, perfectly unreadable expression.

“Oh dear. Looks like you really hit your head hard this time, Ms. Lin.”

Garen said, passing by with a worried tone.

Elda chimed in too.

“Perhaps we really should’ve called a priest for proper healing…”

No one seemed to believe me.

Just then, something soft touched my forehead.

It was Sion’s finger, gently applying the ointment. Rough, but with a cautious touch.