Finally succeeded.
Finally!
*Ugh…*
I dragged my heavy body towards the training room door.
I feel like I’ve been completely immersed for at least 12 hours.
So it must be around midnight by now.
I thought that and struggled to open the door with a *creak*.
“Hainkel!”
As soon as I opened the door, I ran into Emilia.
And she looked quite angry.
What’s this? Did I do something wrong?
“What on earth were you doing that you didn’t come out at all?”
“Ah… I’m sorry. I got so caught up that time just slipped away, haha.”
“I was worried…!”
Huh?
Emilia started to sniffle.
Her eyes were welling up with tears, looking like they were ready to spill with just a little nudge.
Of course, it’s all an act, but I couldn’t even understand why she was putting on such a performance.
“Worried? Why—”
“Why do you think! I had a piece of bread for breakfast and then you didn’t come out until the next morning! It’s almost been 24 hours! No matter how much I knocked, there was no response from inside… I was really worried something had happened to you…”
“Ah…
Now that I think about it, ever since moving to the chairman’s office, I forgot to put an alarm system in the barrier of the underground training room.
I didn’t even know Emilia was calling from outside.
“I’m sorry to have worried you. I’ll make sure to have something like a bell next time.”
“Please do! Really! I was so worried you had collapsed inside!”
Emilia was really getting angry at me.
Come on, at least have the decency to tell the truth.
If I drop dead, the intelligence agency would throw a party, I know that.
News of the death of a threatening figure like me would always be good news for those guys.
Even if I could be friendly with the intelligence agency, that is.
Wait a minute.
How long was I even in there?
“Excuse me. What time is it now?”
“It’s 6 AM.”
“Ah…?”
What the hell.
A whole day passed while I was in there?
Today is the day of the 2-night, 3-day practical class for battle magic.
The meeting time is 9 AM, right?
That’s in three hours.
Which means…
“I won’t have time to sleep.”
“Yeah?! You spent the night inside?!”
I have to head into the practical in this dazed state.
I looked into the mirror hanging on the wall and burst out laughing.
I looked like I had dark circles that could touch my cheeks.
“Wake me up at 8.”
“Are you going to sleep right now?”
“I need to sleep for at least 2 hours, haha…”
I shuffled back to my bedroom like a zombie.
Seeing me like that, Emilia came over and supported me.
Sure, I was extremely tired, but I didn’t need that much help…?
Still, I didn’t resist because Emilia’s soft touch wasn’t unpleasant.
I didn’t even have the energy to push her away.
“I’ll wake you up at 8.”
“Thanks always, Emilia…”
As soon as I threw myself onto the bed, I couldn’t resist the oncoming sleep and slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
During that process, I think I said something nonsensical, but I can’t remember well.
*
“Thank you so much… If it weren’t for Emilia, what would have happened…”
“…?”
Slumped over on the bed, Schlus was fast asleep.
Emilia gazed down at him, unsure of what to do.
Schlus, who normally didn’t even mumble in his sleep, was now muttering.
‘Emilia, huh… That’s how he calls me in his head.’
He always attaches ‘Miss’ whenever he calls me.
Well, since he’s older than me, it makes sense that he doesn’t use honorifics in his thoughts.
But just knowing that made Emilia feel oddly flustered.
‘He must be really tired…’
He normally wouldn’t snore, even after staying up all night.
When I first met Schlus, he truly seemed like the perfect man.
A commoner who never lost his manners, both at home and outside, inflexible, and someone you’d think would never smile in life.
He seemed that way.
But lately, Schlus had changed.
He felt… milder, perhaps?
No, he was actually the same outside.
But inside, when he was alone with Emilia, he would let his guard down and show vulnerability.
The change in him started…
Yeah. It was after the attack from Henderson.
After he risked his life to save me…
‘It’s just my imagination.’
Emilia shook her head.
At this point, it was almost delusional.
It was just that today he didn’t look good.
There was no other special reason.
Emilia kept repeating that to herself in her mind.
‘What if, just maybe?’
A little impulse sparked in Emilia’s mind.
If she asked Schlus something now, wouldn’t he answer completely honestly?
An urge born from that thought.
Confirming that Schlus was fast asleep, Emilia couldn’t overcome that impulse.
She brushed the hair behind his ear gently, leaned closer to Schlus’s ear, and whispered.
This was the only opportunity.
“Hainkel! What does Emilia mean to you?”
Immediately after asking, Emilia startled herself and pulled back.
If I had this opportunity, of course, I should have asked Schlus if he knew that I was part of the intelligence agency.
Should have asked if he was pretending not to know while living like this.
Why on earth did I ask such a pointless question…?
Just as she was regretting, Schlus spoke up.
“Someone… I must absolutely protect…”
Yes, I suppose so.
Emilia sighed deeply.
She had heard this before.
He says he has to protect his people, or something like that.
It must be a responsibility akin to a knight fighting to save the lives of the commoners.
But the following words made Emilia feel as if the breath was knocked out of her.
“By any means… even if it costs my life… I must protect… without Emilia, nothing has any meaning…”
“…!”
Could she have misheard that?
What? To risk his life?
Wasn’t he just so confident that Henderson would let go of him when he held a knife to his own neck?
Could it be that he was truly prepared to die?
More importantly… that nothing has any meaning without me…?
What on earth does that mean?
“Hah… hah…”
When she got her senses back, Emilia was already out of the bedroom running away.
Gasping for breath, she looked to the side and was taken aback.
There stood a girl with a bright red face, looking like a tomato, with a silly expression.
*
“Hurry up, everyone. We’re departing soon.”
Sergey shouted, slapping his back with a tennis racquet.
Not long after, students were orderly lined up in front of Sergey.
“There are two carriages. From now on, anyone whose name is called will board the left carriage…”
The students all pretended to be dignified, but they couldn’t hide their slight excitement.
Finally, they were getting practical training, not just studying combat magic in a stuffy classroom.
It would be weirder if they weren’t excited.
‘I haven’t been able to practice lately. Should I ask how his sword training is going on the way there?’
Trie glanced at Schlus, who looked tired standing in the distance.
She thought of a way to sit next to Schlus.
‘Schlus Hainkel’s condition isn’t normal. He’s definitely someone I recognized. Hmph. I’ll find a way to befriend him based on my insight…’
Meanwhile, Aintz was also thinking of an excuse to sit next to Schlus.
If he had just treated Schlus like a commoner from the beginning, he would probably be regretting it by now.
But unlike other nobles, he recognized Schlus’s potential early on, so he didn’t get on Schlus’s bad side.
After all, strong ones should hang out with strong ones.
Unbeknownst to each other, the two of them were competing for the seat next to Schlus—
“……”
“……”
Ten minutes later, they found themselves sitting side by side.
Schlus was assigned to the first carriage, while Trie and Aintz ended up in the second carriage.
An awkward atmosphere flowed between the two, who hardly had any connection.
Unable to stand the silence, Aintz finally spoke up—
“I can’t take this awkwardness anymore. My name is Aintz. Aintz von Wiegenstein.”
“I know.”
“……”
Aintz fell silent again at Trie’s cold voice.
Trie didn’t mean to be sharp, but even that short response was enough to make Aintz feel intimidated.
As the two turned their heads awkwardly, Schlus, in the first carriage, was slumped over with his arms crossed, fast asleep.
It was hard to believe he was actually sleeping; students felt an unapproachable aura surrounding him.
Because of that, the seat next to Schlus remained empty.
About an hour after the two carriages set off, they had completely left the city.
“Now, I’d like to explain about this practical training! Second carriage! Can you all hear me?!”
Sergey’s voice boomed.
His voice was crystal clear and reached the second carriage, about ten meters behind the first one.
You would think it might get drowned out by the sounds of hooves and wheels, but…
With that powerful voice, the students couldn’t help but laugh in amazement.
“We’re heading to Whist Forest! Does everyone know what it’s like?”
The students shook their heads.
“You wouldn’t! Before the war, it was the land of the kingdom, not the empire! So you’d all better be careful! Whist Forest is flat-out dangerous! There are mines from the war scattered everywhere! And there’s toxic fog filled with high concentrations of mana energy! Plus, magical beasts are crawling all over the place!”
“……”
The students’ faces turned completely pale.
They’d never heard of practical training being so real.
“What that means is! Whist Forest is the perfect place to gather combat data! Harsh environments! And various kinds of enemies! For the next two nights and three days, I’ll assess your crisis management skills, so look forward to it! And there will be surprise tests, so don’t let your guard down!”
“……”
With consecutive words that fed nothing but uncertainty, the students could only resign themselves.
It seemed that Sergey was about to drag them into hellish training.
