First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

In the morning, Victor leaned against the carriage, waiting boredly for Gwen to come out of her house.

Gwen had just opened the door, holding a slender silver sword in her hand.

She was going for morning practice.

As soon as she stepped out, she looked up and saw Victor’s carriage.

Gwen was taken aback for a moment.

At the same time, Victor, who was leaning against the carriage, nodded at her.

Gwen: “…”

Why did he come so early?

Feeling that letting him stand outside was a bit impolite, Gwen thought for a moment and said to Victor:

“Want to practice together?”

“I’m a mage.”

Victor stared at the slender silver sword in her hand and replied lightly.

Gwen blushed hard and turned her head away, letting out an “Oh”.

“Come in first.”

After that, she ran to the training ground to start her morning practice.

Victor was a little bored, so he stood by the training ground, staring at her.

A knight’s morning practice was nothing more than swinging swords and hacking to train the body.

And to practice various combat skills repeatedly.

Gwen waved her sword for a while, feeling a little shy under his gaze. She explained:

“Knights have to train every day.”

“I didn’t ask you.”

Gwen: “…”

So one person watched while the other practiced in silence.

After the morning practice, Gwen wiped the sweat from her forehead and was about to take the waterskin next to her to drink and replenish fluids.

A voice drifted over lazily.

“Drinking water immediately after intense exercise is bad for your health.”

“…”

Gwen put down the waterskin, because she felt that if she drank the water, Victor would probably nag about it.

What’s wrong with him today? Did he catch a disease?

After the morning practice came breakfast time.

Gwen looked at Victor and asked hesitantly:

“Have you eaten?”

“No.”

Victor answered her very concisely.

Gwen: “Then let’s eat together.”

Upon hearing her invitation, Victor immediately moved and walked into the manor ahead of her, calm and unhurried.

Gwen: “…”

She tried to examine Victor with a righteous heart, but all of his actions and words were honest.

“Strange.”

Gwen muttered to herself and shook her head, throwing those ungrounded thoughts out of her mind.

She was naturally referring to the foolish thing he did with the underage daughter of the duke he confessed to.

“…”

Oh well, it had nothing to do with her anyway.

Victor said he would take care of these things.

After the two finished breakfast, Gwen put on her knight’s armor.

The silvery white armor set off her fair and delicate skin, and her exquisite, perfect face carried a sense of coldness and aloofness.

She was like a goddess of war stepped out of the ice.

Victor, on the other hand, looked at the white horse she was leading and asked:

“Do I have to ride a horse too?”

Gwen suddenly remembered that Victor was a mage and couldn’t possibly travel long distances on foot.

How careless of her! She didn’t even consider this.

In Gwen’s memory, Victor seemed to have never ridden a horse before.

What should she do? Did they have to share a horse?

Gwen agonized over this for a while, but in just that short time, Victor had already called Gwen’s servant to the stables to pick out a suitable horse for long distance travel.

Knights’ families never lacked excellent horses.

Gwen saw him preparing to mount another horse. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Victor skillfully flip onto the horse’s back and sit steadily.

“So you can ride, you don’t look like a beginner.”

Victor ignored her, since Gwen could discern the truthfulness of words. The more you speak, the more mistakes you make.

But Gwen was right, Victor was no beginner.

He was a stand-in.

In the game, he had even ridden dragons before.

The two set off one after the other on the road.

Gwen had to report to the Knights first, so Victor followed behind her.

The two didn’t say a word to each other on the road, but Gwen still felt it was unnatural.

She looked back at Victor, he still had that plain poker face. Sensing Gwen’s gaze, he turned his eyes to meet hers.

Gwen quickly turned her head away.

Seeing that she had looked away, Victor continued to enjoy the scenery along the road.

All the way to the Knights’ headquarters, the knights who were assigned to this trip had been ready and waiting.

Nearly forty people stood in a row, awaiting Gwen’s order.

At this moment, standing at the very front, Gwen reminded Victor of the powerful and perfect Grand Knight he had seen in the game.

The same valor and heroic spirit.

Gwen had the knights practice as usual. After practice, Gwen stood on the platform and said to the knights:

“The accompanying mage I requested last time has been found. Some of you should know him.”

Gwen took a step back, signaling for Victor to come up.

Victor, who got the invitation, walked onto the platform unhurriedly.

Victor Clayvinna!

At this moment, almost every knight had this name flash through their minds.

His notorious reputation was known far and wide. There wasn’t a self-proclaimed righteous knight who didn’t know him.

They all hated this villain very much. If possible, they would all like to give Victor a good fight.

But there was no denying that after seeing him in person, the knights were all a little panicked.

They took back their previous arrogance. He was a third-tier mage!

If he went on a rampage here, who could stop him?

Perhaps Knight Commander Gwen could give it a try.

But rumor has it that Knight Gwen has an engagement with him…

The knights were even more in awe of Victor.

Seeing these knights treating him with great respect, although Victor’s face was expressionless, he still felt a little stifled inside.

He had thought there would be some face-slapping scenes, such as the knights not submitting to him, causing disputes, and then he could teach them a lesson accordingly and demonstrate his power to establish prestige.

It seemed he was thinking too much now.

As a villain who struck fear at the mention of his name, his existence alone was enough to be authoritative.

Veega, perched on his shoulder, was silent for a while and mocked.

“Were you really expecting such a ridiculous development?”

“Just wanted some fun, otherwise it’d be too dull.”

Gwen recounted the number of people again. Finding no issues, she was about to announce their departure.

Suddenly, a tender voice called out. A small boy in armor that was obviously not tall or old enough ran over, hugging a sword.

“Sis Gwen! You forgot your sword!”

He shouted as he ran.

The sword was about the same size as him. The hilt covered his eyes.

As a result, he couldn’t see the road and tripped over a rock.

Thud, he fell down.

“Ah!”

The silver sword flew out accordingly, its tip pointing at Victor.

All the knights were shocked. There was no dodging that, it could be fatal!

They were about to warn him when they saw Victor stretch out his hand.

What was he doing? Use magic?

“Don’t! It has very strong magic resistance.”

Gwen hurriedly shouted.

However, Victor remained still.

Under everyone’s horrified gaze, they saw Victor’s outstretched hand suddenly grab the end of the sword.

At the same time, his body nimbly twisted.

The silver sword that should have flown far was easily pulled back.

This action was too smooth and effortless, leaving all the knights present completely stunned.

Victor casually flicked the sword, leaving the knights in a daze.

Damn!

Knight Commander Gwen’s precious sword was casually flicked in his hand?

He really is a mage???

Gwen was also stunned. Her body was still in the posture of reaching out to block earlier.

She blinked, looking at Victor, unable to speak for a long time.

Victor played with the silver sword in his hand for a while, then returned it to Gwen, even humbly saying “sorry” to her.

“It’s been a while since I touched this stuff, played with it for a bit.”

Gwen looked straight at Victor and suddenly recalled the conversation this morning. With some resentment, she said:

“You can use a sword.”

Victor spread his hands, expressionless.

“I’m a mage.”

Of course, he added silently in his heart:

“A full-time mage.”

Seeing the knights collectively shocked, Veega glanced at Victor.

It seemed to understand Victor’s intention.

Because… acting cool was really awesome.

Gwen took back the silver sword and put it in its sheath, ignoring him. She gave orders to the knights:

“All knights! Mount your horses! Move out!”

…

Today was the grand opening of Lia’s potion shop. She looked forward to it very much and personally manned the shop today.

At the same time, she also invited many “industry insiders” for promotion.

However, the effect was not very good.

She sat in the shop, watching the mages passing by outside.

Some people saw the few potion bottles placed on the signboard outside the door and were quite interested, but when they saw the price, they inevitably hesitated.

“So expensive.”

Almost every mage who passed by said this.

Lia was not impatient. As long as someone discovered the value of this potion, it would be fine.

However, things did not go as smoothly as she thought.

On the contrary, it attracted many uninvited guests.

“Is this the shop?”

Lia looked in the direction of the sound. She saw several fierce-looking thugs with various tattoos standing outside the door.

She yawned.

Here they come again, troublemakers.

Lia touched the Mage’s Hand on her hand, a gift from Victor.

Somehow, at times like these, she actually felt that Victor was quite decent.

At least when doing business in his territory, no one dared make ideas about the Clayvinna family’s business.

A cold female voice came from behind:

“Do you want me to drive them away, Miss Lia?”

“No need.”

Seeing the aggressive hoodlums, Lia’s face was somewhat delighted: “If you drive them away, who will help make our name known?”

Voices were heard from outside.

“Start smashing!”