Battle Race in the Fantasy World

EP.133 Why Are You All Like This? Calm Down

As Kyle remembers, this novel’s genre is both romance and fantasy.

And when it comes to fantasy, most are based on the medieval era.

Being medieval, there’s an emperor, nobles, and commoners.

‘But why on earth are there swimsuits in the medieval era?’

It’s not like clothing that’s wrapped tightly around the body and insisting, ‘This is a swimsuit!’

It’s an outfit that, while not excessively revealing, shows various parts of the body clearly.

“Just don’t go to places that are too deep. Has everyone understood?”

At the supervising professor’s words, the academy freshmen cheer loudly.

Usually, they wear neat clothes to maintain their dignity.

But here, if you wear such clothes, you’d be called crazy instead.

Looking at that scene, Kyle shrugged his shoulders once.

Right. It’s all up to the author anyway, so why worry about swimsuits?

Just modify the worldview and be done with it. It’s pointless to get hung up on it.

‘They seem to like it too.’

At their age, everyone wants to show off themselves.

Male students to female students, female students to male students, showing their own charm.

It’s not bad. It’s not strange. It’s perfectly natural.

Thinking this, Kyle focused on continuing his push-ups.

Ah, I forgot the count. I think I did about 300 so far.

Can’t be helped. Let’s start over from the beginning. What’s so hard about 300?

“Kyle.”

Hearing someone call his name, he stops his push-ups and looks up.

There was Tisha, arms crossed, looking down at him.

He can roughly guess what she’s going to say. He stands up and glances at the sea.

“Everyone’s going swimming. Aren’t you going in, Kyle?”

“Later. Not particularly now.”

“Don’t be like that, let’s go together. Besides, Kyle. Why do you keep looking elsewhere instead of at me?”

Tisha suddenly brings her face close to Kyle’s.

“Do I look strange?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“You’re pretty.”

“Then why do you keep avoiding me?”

At that question, Kyle lets out a groan.

In fact, when Tisha appeared in her swimsuit earlier, he let out a gasp of ‘Ugh.’

He thought she’d just wear a simple one-piece dress as a swimsuit.

The reason being, as you know, it’s a world where they wear those flowing dresses as everyday wear.

He even wondered if it was possible to have swimsuits in the first place.

‘But tada. Although the fabric area is a bit wide. Even with a top on, it’s still a bikini, isn’t it?’

The moment he saw the glimpse of the black swimsuit, he couldn’t help but applaud.

He remembers that the black dress he saw last time suited her extremely well too.

Certainly, Tisha looks best in black dress code.

Is it because she’s a witch? Ah, this isn’t a discriminatory remark. Really.

“Are you embarrassed to look at me?”

“Let’s say that’s the case.”

“Let’s say? What do you mean?”

“It’s just one of those things.”

In fact, what Kyle is concerned about isn’t Tisha’s swimsuit.

It’s because he feels Elga’s glare every time he glances at her.

That’s why he was trying not to look as much as possible.

‘I’m sure they didn’t expect Tisha to wear such a bold outfit.’

Is it because she’s the daughter of a grand duke? Elga’s outfit was too modest.

It’s ambiguous to even call it a swimsuit. It looks just like her usual dress.

That red dress he saw last time looked more like a swimsuit in comparison.

Coming to the beach in such an outfit. Does she not intend to get in the water?

Elga seems to have noticed how her outfit compares to Tisha’s.

The way she keeps looking back and forth between herself and Tisha makes her thoughts quite obvious.

In such a situation, constantly looking at Tisha might have the opposite effect.

“Come on, Kyle. We’ve come all the way to this beautiful beach, are you not going to get in the water?”

Hey, Tisha. I swam to my heart’s content just a few days ago.

I even swam across the sea to an island without taking a single break, you know?

Swimming here would be like splashing in a puddle compared to that.

Unaware of Kyle’s true thoughts, Tisha keeps urging him.

“Come on. I work out really hard too, you can at least do this much for me.”

“Why don’t you go with the other classmates…”

“If you keep refusing, I won’t exercise anymore. I’ll overeat and have lots of late-night snacks too.”

It was a cute threat that only a client could make to their trainer.

Who else would use their own body weight and fat percentage as a threat?

An exasperated sigh escaped Kyle’s lips, but it wasn’t entirely ineffective.

Using that well-balanced figure as a hostage, threatening to stop exercising and eat late-night snacks.

How could he not be moved by such a cruel proposition?!

“Okay, okay. I get it. But promise me you won’t skip your workouts. And try not to eat too many late-night snacks either.”

Tisha responds with “Of course,” as she casually links arms with Kyle.

He hadn’t expected this, but she’s being quite forward, isn’t she?

Rather than leading, he’s being led, but it’s not so bad.

Perhaps this is how she treated others in the original story, earning her the nickname “witch”?

“Ugh! Do they have to do that here of all places?!”

“Stop it already! You’re kicking up sand!”

Screams from students can be heard from somewhere. But complaining about sand being kicked up?

Isn’t it normal for sand to fly around no matter what you do on a beach?

A moment later, Kyle had to put his hand to his forehead as he witnessed a certain scene.

And he fully understood why the students were telling them to stop.

‘Hey, you idiots.’

It was Ian and Nell, having a sword duel right there on the beach.

As a bonus, Leto was sitting nearby, acting as the referee.

‘Why on earth would they… It must be hard to move on the sand too.’

If others had known Kyle’s thoughts, they might have said something like this:

That’s rich coming from someone who’s doing three hundred push-ups on the beach.

‘Come to think of it, those three don’t seem to match at all, yet they get along surprisingly well. Is this what they call a kind of camaraderie forged through exercise?’

Looking at them like this, it seems neither Ian nor Leto has any idea that Nell is a woman.

Even though Nell is said to be hiding her identity quite thoroughly, you’d think they’d notice if they’re close.

Glancing at Ian and Leto, it seems they haven’t even dreamed of it.

For better or worse, the characteristics of the male leads in romance fantasy novels were showing themselves perfectly.

The thing that everyone else knows, but they themselves won’t notice until they’re told, no matter what.

“Kyaa!”

Kyle turns his head at the high-pitched scream coming from beside him.

Tisha, who had approached where the waves were coming in, comes into view.

“Ah, sorry. It was just so cold.”

Judging by the way she’s speaking, it seems less like she actually screamed because it was cold.

It looks more like she deliberately screamed to get his attention.

Compared to when he first met her, she’s definitely grown more positively mischievous, indeed she has.

*

“…”

Meanwhile, Elga, left alone on the beach, inwardly lets out a sigh.

Unlike the other students in swimsuits, she was wearing a flowing one-piece dress.

‘I lacked information. Who would have thought they’d wear such swimsuits.’

To think they’d come in such aggressive swimsuits. She had been too naive.

Tisha, who was supposed to be the first rival to overcome, had gotten ahead of her again.

In fact, Elga had considered wearing such a swimsuit too.

While it might be a problem to wear in everyday life, it’s different at the beach.

Just like wearing a dress at a banquet, wearing a swimsuit is appropriate at the beach.

She had even bought more than ten red swimsuits to match her hair color.

‘But…’

But, as luck would have it, one aspect of Elga held her back.

‘Why can’t I swim! Really! If I had known, I would have learned!’

That’s right. Elga couldn’t swim at all.

The most she had done was dip her feet in ankle-deep water.

To Elga, that deep blue sea was beautiful yet unreachable.

That’s why she couldn’t wear the swimsuits she had bought and carefully chosen.

Because if she wore a swimsuit, they would surely try to pull her into the water.

It was a bit embarrassing to say “I can’t swim” in front of Kyle.

Above all, with Tisha there too, just thinking about it hurt her pride too much.

‘I was too confident.’

She thought it would be enough. She was confident she could catch Kyle’s eye just by wearing a one-piece dress.

That’s why she had suggested going to the beach in the first place.

But this wasn’t a banquet hall, and the clothes covering her body were a complete mistake.

‘You idiot…! How can you become a Grand Duke like this?! When you can’t even swim?!’

You might wonder what swimming has to do with becoming a Grand Duke, but for Elga, it did.

At this moment, not being able to swim, and thus not being able to enter the sea, made Elga feel like the most foolish, pathetic, and hateful version of herself.

“This is so frustrating…”

What should she do? What on earth should she do? As these thoughts filled her mind,

Suddenly, a plan flashed through Elga’s mind.

‘Wait a minute?’

Elga, who had jumped up from her seat, quickly scans the sea.

Tisha, smiling brightly and playing around, was irritating, but that wasn’t important right now.

Next to her, Kyle was skillfully cutting through the water. Yes, his swimming skills.

‘…Yeah. He’s good. Obviously good. He’s going into deep water without hesitation.’

Perhaps it was only natural. How could Jonathan, with his supreme physical abilities, not be able to swim?

Unlike herself, he moved so skillfully. It almost looked like he was walking on flat ground.

It was from this that Elga could gain confidence.

Swimming, after all, is just another way of moving the body.

And Kyle is more sincere than anyone when it comes to moving his body.

If someone asks for his help with that, he would never refuse.

As a bonus, if someone shows that they’re trying their best, he’d be happier than anyone.

‘If I take this chance to say I want to learn how to swim, I can learn swimming and spend more time with Kyle!’

The swimsuits she was a bit embarrassed to show others would be fine in front of Kyle.

If she asks him personally, and adds that she’d be embarrassed if others found out,

Given Kyle’s personality, he would teach her swimming in a quiet place away from others.

A reason to spend time with Kyle without others knowing.

That would be enough for her to tell Kyle that she can’t swim.

No, it’s even better! And it’s fortunate! It’s really fortunate that she can’t swim!