The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 45.1

Judas entered behind a building with Richard.

It was the alley where Dylan was being beaten.

He quickly assessed the number and skill level of the enemies.

“Ten in total. Of them, three are much bigger and obviously stronger than me. None have weapons in hand.”

That was at least fortunate.

Both he and Richard came empty-handed without any weapons.

If the opponents had weapons, they would have to be prepared for serious injuries.

Most importantly, he was most confident in hand-to-hand combat.

“Dylan… his face is intact. They must have hit only non-visible parts on purpose.”

Even with the appearance of Judas and Richard, the ten men were not intimidated.

There was no need to be.

The difference in numbers was stark.

Dylan bit his teeth as he looked at them.

Embarrassment.

Shame.

And guilt for causing worry.

Complex emotions muddled his mind.

Judas and Richard continued to approach without stopping.

Dylan expected them to stop.

They would try to talk from a certain distance.

Ask what the hell was going on.

Why this situation had happened.

Including everyone here, Richard was the highest-ranking person.

Therefore, he would press them as a senior.

But there would be no satisfactory answers or reactions.

Even if Richard was a senior, considering the support they believed in, it was likely.

Then, those two hot-tempered guys he knew wouldn’t be able to hold back and would explode.

Not only Dylan, but the other ten also thought there would be a conversation first.

That was why a boy swaggered forward to block their way.

“No matter how senior you are….”

The boy’s words ended in a scream.

Richard didn’t listen any further and swung his fist.

“…Ah!”

The boy, hit, fell backward with a nosebleed.

“What the hell are these guys-!”

Except for one, the members of Room 5 came forward threateningly to block the two.

They swarmed in.

Judas and Richard did not back down.

Leaving the fallen one behind, they advanced and then ran.

Ready to collide.

A brutal fight of two against eight began.

Dylan had to change his thinking about of those two.

They were much crazier and more fierce than he had thought.

***

They fought with all their might.

Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, they didn’t care and charged.

Though there were only two, there was one advantage.

It was a narrow alley.

The opponents couldn’t easily make use of their numerical superiority.

Judas’s judo skills proved effective here as well.

He handled a young man bigger than himself with ease.

The young man, Zero Bom, was caught by the collar and panicked.

“What kind of grip is this…!”

Judas’s strength was beyond that of his peers.

It wasn’t just a matter of strength.

He knew how to use his opponent’s strength, and how to properly adjust the center of gravity and balance.

In that regard, he was literally a ‘pro.’

Zero Bom tumbled to the ground in an instant.

He seemed to be dragged, then suddenly the world flipped upside down.

He landed hard on his backside.

With pain spreading from his tailbone, he couldn’t get up from the ground.

Judas looked at the next approaching guy.

“This bastard!”

An awkward punch pulled back and swung widely.

It was overly obvious and slow.

Judas dodged to the opposite direction of the outstretched arm.

He assessed the flailing punch that missed its mark.

“Not a technique I use often, but…”

He grabbed the wrist with both hands.

Pulling it towards his torso, he pressed the opponent’s elbow under his armpit.

In an instant, the arm lock technique was completed.

“Armpit arm lock.”

The guy caught screamed.

“Aaah-!”

The sound of the next opponent approaching from behind could be heard.

He kicked the subdued guy away and turned around.

The opponent was quite close.

Too late to grab and throw.

“In that case…”

The opponent lunged forward, as if trying to grab him.

At the moment of collision.

Judas, instead, crouched down and moved in.

“What the…?!”

He rammed his shoulder into the opponent, then stood up forcefully, throwing him backward.

“Shoulder throw.”

Several opponents subdued by Judas collided and rolled on the ground.

Immediately after.

“Stop.”

One of the guys from room 5 warned.

“Don’t move. If you don’t want to see this guy get hurt.”

Richard had somehow been captured by the opponent.

Both arms held, completely defenseless.

No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t escape.

One of the guys holding him was Vinyl.

Judas glared at them silently, then raised his palm.

As if to show he had no intention of fighting further.

“After all, the difference in numbers is inevitable…”

He fought hard thanks to the environment of barehanded combat and a narrow alley.

Had they wielded weapons and been in a wider space, he wouldn’t have lasted this long.

However, in the end, the fact of defeat didn’t change.

Two against nine.

The disparity was too stark.

Even after surrendering, the guys from room 5 hesitated to approach Judas.

Despite having fought three in a row, he didn’t show signs of fatigue.

Just a bit of sweat.

Though he surrendered, his eyes were fierce, as if warning anyone who dared to touch him.

Judas clicked his tongue inwardly.

“If only I had released my magic, things would be different…”

He was angry and frustrated, but he couldn’t use his magic release.

He found the situation bizarre and strange.

Among the attackers were juniors ranked lower than Dylan.

Yet even they didn’t hesitate to hit Dylan.

They even confronted Richard.

It was a rebellion so confusing it was hard to understand.

To the point where emotions couldn’t explode.

How could such a thing happen?

“These guys… they’re not in their right minds…”

Richard said while being held.

His growling voice was full of emotion.

“You’re openly committing insubordination? And in a group? Are you really crazy?”

It was a precise remark.

Even those who had been fighting fiercely started looking around worriedly, perhaps realizing it belatedly.

At the center of their cautious glances was a young man.

A man who had never once joined the brawl.

He stood a step away, observing the situation arrogantly.

From the beginning, he had been the one who caught Judas’s eye.

“Sallaman….”

Richard gritted his teeth as he looked at him.

Despite being held by both arms, he did not cower.

“Is this your doing? What makes you so confident? Have you lost your mind?”

Unlike Richard’s distorted face, Sallaman remained indifferent.

His calm face showed no expression.

As he walked forward, he slightly bowed.

The ambiguous angle was closer to just lowering his head rather than his waist.

Richard and Judas felt perplexed by this somewhat out-of-place action.

“My apologies, senior.”

Contrary to his words, his tone was neither polite nor remorseful.

Without correcting his posture, Sallaman continued to speak.

“There was a minor misunderstanding with Dylan.”

Though he bowed his head out of courtesy, his tone was far from apologetic.

It was formal and respectful, yet somehow.

From the start to the end of the fight, standing alone like a noble person watching from a distance.

Judas found the young man named Sallaman very peculiar.

He acted like an aristocrat, but he didn’t seem like one at all.

It felt like watching a child imitate an adult.

If only he were as pure as that, it would be a relief.

To Judas, this forced act of nobility was even repulsive.

“A minor misunderstanding? Does this look minor to you?”

“While conversing, the friction escalated to this point.”

“This lunatic….”

Just as Richard and Judas were about to say something.

“Candidates over there.”

A solemn and authoritative voice interrupted.

The candidates, who were facing each other, turned towards the alley entrance simultaneously.

A large figure that seemed to fill the narrow alley.

Judas immediately recognized him.

The instructor of the training camp, and the knight targeting him under Barak’s orders.

Gaston was there.

“What’s going on?”

He walked over with large strides.

He was intimidating.

Just by walking.

Before any of the candidates could respond, Gaston’s gaze swept across the alley.

“A group fight, is it.”

“Apologies. A misunderstanding during a conversation escalated emotions….”

“When did you…!”

Sallaman apologized, and Richard shouted to stop the lie.

But even that was interrupted by Gaston.

“Enough.”

He looked down at the candidates with cold eyes.

“I’ll hear the details later. I have a rough idea of what happened.”

Ten people centered around Sallaman.

The three from Room 13 watching from a distance.

It was easy to infer the situation without hearing the details.

“Sallaman. Come with me. And all of you.”

“Yes….”

Gaston turned around.

All the members of Room 5 naturally followed him, but Room 13 couldn’t do the same.

Judas looked at his back with discontent.

“Sir Gaston.”

Richard called out to him suddenly.

Gaston half-turned his body.

“What is it?”

“I don’t understand. I am a fifth-generation trainee, and those there are all beneath me. Why do you have nothing to say about this insubordination?”

Only then did Gaston turn his body completely.

His eyes looked at him as if he were an annoying insect.

Richard felt deeply wronged by the situation.

He wasn’t the only one who had been hit.

Dylan, too, was a senior in his own right.

However, the opponent seemed indifferent and continued the assault.

In reality, Gaston showed no interest in Richard’s grievances.

“So, I am here here to investigate the situation. Is there a problem with that? Or what, are you trying to take out your frustration on me?”

A cold gaze and an equally icy tone.

Richard, embarrassingly, felt intimidated.

He immediately regretted his earlier remark.

It was an unavoidable reaction in the face of an overwhelming adult.

At that moment.

“What is there to investigate?”

Judas stepped in front of Richard.

“Is there a cadet among those idiots over there who is of a higher rank than Senior Richard? Just by looking, it seems obvious there isn’t. Whether you take them or not, it’s clear to anyone that an act of insubordination has occurred, isn’t it?”

The training camp is a society with strict hierarchical order.

Even Gulliat, who was hostile towards Judas, showed respect in front of Richard’s rank.

Insubordination is a serious offense for a cadet.

Despite this, Gaston did not point it out first.

“And it seems, you glanced at us like we didn’t necessarily have to follow. As if.”

Judas folded his arms and stroked his chin with one hand.

Then he tilted his head slightly.

As if he found Gaston incomprehensible.

His composed attitude and sharp words.

Things he learned from spending time with Eliza.

“Doesn’t it look like you’re trying to protect them?”