Chapter 16

EP.16 The Starving Saintess Draws Her Sword

Her fingers, as white as snow and without a blemish, deftly tore open the packaging and placed its contents into a bowl.

Crack, the faded aluminum container was soon filled with small brown granules the size of fingernails.

“...”

Poverty forces the poor to make harsh choices.

Jean Valjean did not steal bread because he was a thief, but to save his starving sister and her children, yet the world was not so full of compassion to understand his plight.

Poverty is an environment that drives humans to a point where they cannot resist with mere willpower and strength.

A few sages have overcome such adversity and etched their names in history, but most people, including myself, simply kneel before the wall.

Unable to think of a better future, unable to look forward,

they merely maintain the status quo and are content with just being alive.

The most cruel part is,

at some point, one's nerves become so worn out that they no longer recognize the cruelty.

Before pouring the contents into the empty bowl, I suddenly examined the packaging.

A bright and colorful array of vegetables was depicted on it.

Below, a continuous stream of text about nutritional information and calories.

It was undoubtedly a package that looked like it contained delicious snacks.

Anyone would think it was vegetable crackers.

Unless they noticed the smiling dog drawn in a corner that was barely visible.

So, those students I met at the bench near the closed convenience store a week ago must have picked this up without realizing it was dog food.

What is the standard for cruelty?

Perhaps it's not that the nerves are worn out and dulled,

or that one is so broken that they can't look up to the sky,

but that they make a fuss over trivial things.

Why?

During times of war, so many people starved to death because they couldn't even eat grass soup.

During the era of slavery, those bound by the status of slaves could only eat half a bowl of rice after working for days and nights.

Compared to that, people today complain about poverty and blame their parents, the country, and themselves for not being able to eat the food they want three times a day,

and it seems like they are just making a fuss as human rights are re-evaluated in this changing era.

A rich person who has lived in a 100-pyeong apartment all their life and is forced to move to a 20-pyeong house due to business failure might think their life is cruel because the house is small and inconvenient.

But as time passes and they get used to the 20-pyeong house,

they might think, "It's more livable than I thought."

In fact, there's no real problem.

My situation can be compared to this.

At this moment, there must be people who are starving to death because they can't even eat a blade of grass. What would they think if they saw me?

A rich person forced to move to a 20-pyeong house,

and me, who complains about the contents of dog food.

Though the context is different, there is a clear similarity.

So, this physiological aversion might just be a fuss or a fuss.

So, let's think about it this way.

It might be more edible than I thought.

I mixed the contents with tap water.

***

[Chewing sound woof woof]

[Crunch crunch crunch... Grains... Five grains ♥]

[?]

[What a crazy person]

[What is the streamer eating?]

[Your donation has been converted into the streamer's snack]

[I gave money to buy snacks... Huh]

[What does "Huh" mean?]

[You're eating something delicious by yourself, damn it]

[EyeNa... I became EyeNa's snack, ShiPer...]

[Your eating sounds are so pretty...]

[There are so many crazy water buffaloes]

[The chat is so gross]

[Streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer, streamer]

[Streamer, communicate more]

"Ah. It was so delicious... I already finished it."

[What did you eat?]

[Is the food you got from the viewers' blood so delicious?]

[Isn't it too willingly paid, sir?]

[Ah, who encouraged you?]

[How many days until the streamer leaves the stream?]

[It's not days, it's how many days]

[Anyway, damn it]

[It's not days, it's tomorrow evening at 6]

[It's there if you search for it]

[Oh]

[So the streamer is a warrior?]

[Yeah]

[Of course]

[With such good skills, you wouldn't do something like a priest, right?]

[Really]

[It's a national loss that such talent is wasted on a healer, lol]

[But it actually happened...]

[Please, are you not thinking of changing your job now?]

"I like being a priest."

As I said this, I moved the mouse and pressed a few keys on the keyboard.

The sword thrust at the 'Saintess' is nullified by a single short step.

This time, I spoke not to the viewers but to the target beyond Discord.

"Mr. Mohye, I told you. Against someone with a thin body and no weight penalty equipment, you should avoid thrusts."

Thrusts are point-based attacks.

They are too easily countered when used against fast-moving targets.

Unless your main weapon is a saber, Mohye, who uses only a longsword without any secondary weapons, should not use them.

Mohye argued, sounding aggrieved.

"It works well against other people..."

"Who taught you such a gimmick?"

Gimmick.

There is no more accurate term.

For a longsword, thrusts are nothing more than a gimmick.

Without a shield, a longsword user must rely on blade-to-blade contact and the flow of movements to form a defense.

"Who taught you this? Just sometimes. I thought longswords were only used for slashing... And it usually works. Your reaction speed is just insane."

Perhaps that's why it caught me off guard.

Indeed, inexperienced users would be startled by an unheard-of attack.

The problem is that the users in this tournament, Yellow and Orange, are not inexperienced.

Reaction speed and awareness are not the issue.

"Didn't I tell you? A longsword must be used aggressively. A longsword warrior must play as aggressively as a dual-wield thief."

After saying this, I clicked a button in the training interface.

The mace in the Saintess's hand disappeared, replaced by a longsword identical to Mohye's.

With a key input, the Saintess lifted the longsword horizontally with both hands.

Standing with the left foot forward and slightly sideways, the thumb was placed under the blade, the elbow pulled back, and the hand positioned next to the temple.

The tip of the sword pointed at the opponent's face.

Ochs. The basic stance of the Liechtenauer school, meaning "ox," was completed.

I murmured softly.

"I'm going in."

I cautiously took one step, then another, closing the distance.

My dilated pupils captured every subtle movement of the opponent.

The armored warrior glared at the Saintess, determined not to miss my actions.

I carefully observed Mohye, and at the moment his breath was about to change, I struck.

A longsword is a weapon that uses the blade to create a surface.

The Liechtenauer school is a sword technique where the transition between stances forms an attack.

Clang! The sound of metal clashing echoed, and in the state of crossed swords, we engaged in a battle of grip and force.

Thirty exchanges in an instant.

The continuous sound of metal clashing streamed through the speakers.

The Saintess toyed with the opponent like a dance.

In a real fight, Mohye's head would have been severed multiple times.

There was a clear difference in skill between Mohye, who had been stuck at Green 4 for years, and me, who had once reached Orange.

Seemingly aware of this, Mohye spoke in a strangely curt tone.

"Saintess, how can you use a longsword so well when you only play as a priest?"

"You learn everything after playing this game for ten years."

The role of a priest.

A novice priest only uses healing based on the health bar displayed in the interface.

A skilled priest must consider the opponent's focus, the invisible resource of stamina, and the flow of combat, including the positions and distant attacks, to provide the right amount of healing to allies.

Otherwise, mana distribution becomes a problem.

Thus, a priest must always observe the battlefield.

Having seen the combat of various weapons and classes in over 8,000 matches, it would