Is the Friend of a Friend a Stranger? - Chapter 13.1

As soon as they put the bracelet they were wearing on each wooden doll, the doll lifted its head. It was a very dreary sight to see dolls made of sacks, straws, and wood moving at the same time as if they had been given life. But they were used to the training, so they simply held up their wooden swords without any agitation.

Sylvia sighed unconsciously as she settled behind them for support.

She had a feeling that the fight would be long.

Michelle, who had strong pride, would only feel better when she pushed these men to her feet. It was uncomfortable to be on the opposite side of her.

‘Just think of it as training.’

The reason for helping them in the first place was to make them more familiar with the mission, so Sylvia decided to just focus on that.

She familiarly cast some magic on the men, causing them to see the doll’s weaknesses, and made it possible for them to leap a bit more and swing their arms more strongly. But there was something Sylvia had overlooked.

A lower grade meant that just one supporter was in charge of multiple knights, so, with their low grades, the support they had received so far was very basic. They became instinctively reluctant to let Sylvia’s mana control them.

When they jumped one meter higher than they could, they waved their arms and legs in surprise, and even did one full turn with their bodies as they were unable to handle the strength in their right arm.

“Ugh!”

As they were ridiculously in the air and then fell to the ground, a doll attacked them. Because of the doll that bound them like a monster, blue marks appeared everywhere.

“Is it twelve already?”

Their faces flushed with shame as they heard Michelle giggle in the distance.

Their anger, which had nowhere to go, turned directly to Sylvia.

“Are you making fun of us?”

Jifael, who had a fiery personality, rumpled his short hair as he approached Sylvia, threatening her. Wilden grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him, making him return to his original position, but his expression didn’t look good, just like when he fell after a brilliant spin in the air.

“I’m sorry, Sylvia. Can you just stick to the basics?”

He tried to speak gently, but he couldn’t hide the annoyance in his voice.

Sylvia was taken aback. She had helped other knights several times, but it was the first time something like this had happened. Moreover, what she was doing now was very basic, so if they couldn’t even handle this level of support properly, she wondered if they could go on a mission and come back alive.

“Alright.”

She nodded in agreement, but did not intend to stay there and do nothing as they were saying.

‘A supporter is not an errand boy who just provides the services the knights want in the first place.’

She clenched her fists, thinking so.

Instead, Sylvia checked their condition a little more accurately, adjusting her magic to support them. She wanted them to admit that supporters were also people who fought by their side.

Tack, tack.

She wondered if they got used to it over time, as their body movements also became much more agile and skilled. The score gap, which had only been widening, also entered a period of stabilization to some extent, and she felt that they were becoming more and more focused.

“Jifael, it’s easier to support you if you relax your left shoulder.”

“…”

“As a general rule, the monsters don’t recognize their own bottom, so it’s better to lower your bodies.”

As they seemed to be taking the training more seriously, Sylvia said one thing at a time. For a moment, they seemed to be quietly concentrating in front of her, listening to her.

But as they began to sweat and raise their eyebrows at the increasingly difficult training, they started getting annoyed by Sylvia’s words.

Even the attacks on Sylvia’s side were not hitting at all, leading her to the point where she had to leave her original position and avoid the dolls herself.

“Can’t you do it properly? Does it make sense for Sylvia to avoid it on her own?”

Michelle exclaimed, but Jifael only shouted for her to mind her own business.

“You’re lowly bastards, after all.”

Perhaps Michelle’s muttering had hurt their pride. They raised their eyebrows and now seemed determined to be more and more warped.

“Are we fucking supporters’ dogs? It’s annoying to move as you say.”

He muttered openly, unable to hide his dissatisfaction, and sent the doll behind him, pretending not to know that it was a brief break time right now. It would be a big loss if a supporter was hurt in the actual fight, but he seemed to think it was okay at this moment because it was only training.

‘Even if it’s a doll, it hurts! Do they think I’m a knight who trains my body all the time like them?’

Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 7 chapters in advance!