Han Yoonhwa.
She is a boss with a rather broad and violent side, but She is a good firefighter with a reliable side.
-Her colleagues who work in the same workplace were evaluated like this.
A true firefighter who doesn’t like administrative work, always runs on the field, and in an urgent situation, She takes the initiative before anyone else and throws himself into the dangerous field.
Han Yoonhwa, who broke the prejudice of being a female firefighter and showed a reliable appearance, was a person who was quite liked by his colleagues and successors.
Among those who lived through those wild times, no one in her neighborhood was unaware of the infamous rumors about “her.”
About twenty years ago
An era of barbarism when the bikers who stole students’ money, washed bonds, or rode dangerously on motorcycles that were clogged at dawn and emitted loud noises.
None of those who lived in that era did not know the ‘She’ rumor in her neighborhood.
Bloody-fisted Red-haired Madwoman
The trigger for the nickname began with a gang of bullies arguing with a female student who was passing through an alleyway without hesitation.
The woman, who had black hair and had only a slight sting around her eyes, found a student who was being pouted by bullies while passing through an alley, and the bullies simply waved their hands to turn off.
That was the root of the fire.
It wasn’t that I felt sympathy for the student who was being ripped off, nor did my sense of justice soar after witnessing the problematic situation.
I was just sick of the attitude of looking at myself and talking. It was just that.
Apparently, after her fists and her bangs were covered with a lot of dark red blood, which literally crushed three men like dog cakes, she was given the title of Bloody-fisted Red-haired Madwoman.
Of course, as rumors spread that three men were completely blown away by one woman, the rogue circle they belonged to immediately ran away with the tools to put the rumors to rest.
At that rate, she’s a woman, but these figures were beaten up by other people and made excuses. They had the same complacent thoughts, but if they threatened, they’d roughly take some tools and cry for help, so I’d roughly end the case with that.
It didn’t go against their plan until the rogue circle who ran out like that finally found her, surrounded her, and began to threaten her with an extension.
Now, it was perfect as long as she cried and begged for wrongdoing.
However, one of the rogue circles at the scene recalled what happened at that time.
The devil. It was as if the devil had appeared.
Even with so many tools facing her, she smiled madly, and threw a jjangdol into the head of the nearest one, which she would have picked up from somewhere without warning.
The woman, who ran forward at the same time as the rogue circle personnel, who had been struck on the head by the stoning, moaned in pain and dropped the aluminum bat in their hands.
After that, it was an abominable act.
When one of the circles was overpowered without knowing why, she rushed to the panicked crowd of people and swung the tools frantically.
With each swing, their screams reverberated, and her beating did not stop until the screams turned to a gurgle.
Having knocked out all the dozen by herself, she stood in the middle of them floundering on the floor, groaning in pain, laughing.
The rogue circles that did so were completely destroyed, and the perfect declaration ceremony of a Bloody-fisted Red-haired Madwoman was made.
Whoosh—
A heavy, razor-sharp axe blade, seeming capable of slicing anything it struck in two, missed its intended target and cleaved through empty air instead.
“Oh, you really dodged that?”
Dariann, gripping the axe handle firmly and returning it to his grasp, chuckled with a hint of admiration.
“Haha, this is interesting…”
Gordon, who had narrowly avoided the axe blade as it passed just in front of his nose, tilted his head back slightly and responded with a faint smirk, almost as if humoring Dariann’s amusement.
‘The swing….it carried the full intent of landing a decisive blow. That wasn’t the move of an amateur, there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation.’
While it might have seemed like Gordon was showcasing his superiority by evading the attack with concise, efficient movements, inwardly, he was quite impressed.
It is no easy feat for humans to wield weapons against others without hesitation. Even for him, the ability to swing a weapon at someone without a moment’s pause only came after several months of experience in this line of work.
Yet here was Dariann, the pampered third child of a noble family (now its head), swinging his axe without a shred of hesitation. This alone was enough to astonish Gordon.
“Here I come!”
After a brief standoff, Dariann once again charged at Gordon, swinging her axe.
Axes, as weapons, had several disadvantages compared to swords. While they could deliver immense power and destructive force, making them more potent in raw strength, they were far less effective against human opponents than swords.
Unless it was a halberd with a sharp spike for thrusting, axes lacked versatility for stabbing or feints and required large, sweeping motions to attack. These wide arcs left numerous openings, making it difficult to follow up with consecutive attacks if the opponent either moved inward or retreated slightly.
Gordon, understanding this dynamic, observed Dariann’s swing and deftly shifted his footing, stepping back just enough to evade the trajectory of the axe.
As expected, Dariann’s axe barely missed Gordon’s torso, leaving her momentarily vulnerable with her back exposed.
‘This is a good point to stop and provide some instruction.’
If he had been holding a dagger, this would have been an easy victory—he’d merely need to press the blade lightly against her unprotected neck. Instead, Gordon extended his fingers and lightly moved his hand toward her neck.
Whoosh—
“…Well, this is unexpected.”
From an unforeseen angle, the back end of the axe blade suddenly came flying toward Gordon’s head.
Dariann, using the momentum of her swing, had intentionally rotated her body fully, like executing a spinning elbow strike, to launch a follow-up attack aimed at Gordon.
The unexpected trajectory widened Gordon’s eyes in surprise.
At this rate, the axe would lodge directly into his temple.
“…Tch, you dodged this too?”
Yet, Gordon managed to evade even this attack with an agile move, bending backward and retreating swiftly.
Dariann furrowed her brow slightly in frustration, her follow-up strike missing its mark.
“…Impressive. I had no idea the head of the house possessed such remarkable skill,” Gordon remarked.
“Doesn’t really feel great when you’re dodging everything without a scratch.”
Despite Gordon’s genuine praise, Dariann didn’t seem particularly thrilled, still looking disappointed. Yet Gordon was truly in awe.
‘His movements lack refinement. It’s not the polished technique of a trained soldier but the instinctive ferocity of a wild animal.’
‘Even so, he instinctively knows how to sink his teeth into his opponent at the perfect moment.’
To Gordon, a master of various weapon techniques, Dariann’s movements appeared clumsy.
Rather than efficiency, he relied on his physical prowess to wield his weapon, resembling a crude bandit or mercenary.
Yet his flashes of brilliance and natural combat instincts were undeniably extraordinary.
“…When swinging an axe, it’s important to always gauge the position of both yourself and your opponent,” Gordon advised.
“Huh? Are you giving me a lecture now?”
“The way you swung just now, it left you open to a fatal counterattack if your opponent retreated or blocked and then followed up. However, if you instead—”
“…!”
“If they advance inward, exploiting the lack of momentum, they can easily land a fatal blow to your weak spot.”
Dariann, unable to follow Gordon’s sudden movement, felt a bead of cold sweat form on her brow as he reappeared, lightly pressing a finger under her chin.
“An axe has many disadvantages, but the biggest one is its vulnerability when an opponent closes the distance rather than retreating.”
“…I see. I’ve learned something new.”
Gordon, retracting his finger and stepping back, continued his explanation while Dariann, realizing her oversight, shrugged as if admitting defeat.
“For now, it would be good to focus on practicing how to measure the distance between yourself and your opponent, as well as how to counter if they try to close in.”
“Oh… I hope you’re not planning to teach this all through words. My blood is starting to boil, you know.”
“Of course not. Even this old man can’t help but get fired up.”
Both of them naturally assumed their stances again, staring each other down.
Once more, the dust of the training ground swirled as Dariann’s axe cut through the air.
“….Can I just leave already?”
Meanwhile, Rosaria, drenched in sweat and sitting on the ground nearby, muttered to herself as she watched the scene unfold.