NOVEL NEXT Chapter 38
✦ Chapter 38 — Wager (4) ✦
「Translator — Creator」
᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃
In the early hours when no one was around, swinging a sword alone in the training grounds – that was Johanna’s morning routine.
Yes, that’s how it used to be until recently.
Lately, Johanna’s morning routine had changed from sword practice to secretly observing someone else’s rigorous training. Already known for waking up hours before others, she now rose even earlier than her usual time to watch this.
‘I wonder if he’ll be there before me today too.’
Yesterday, she had arrived earlier than usual to find out just how early Loki started his training, but he was already running when she got there.
She usually went to the training grounds when the chilly wind blew, but…
She had to go even earlier now, so she wore a light coat and headed to the training grounds.
However, for some reason, no sound could be heard even though she was close to the training grounds.
Normally, she would have heard Loki running when she got close to the training grounds.
‘Could he not be here?’
If Loki’s not here…
She would practice with her sword alone.
Though she had always practiced alone before seeing Loki, somehow the thought now felt disappointing.
Johanna, who was heading to the training grounds at a slightly fast pace, slowed down.
‘I have something to tell him too.’
Johanna wasn’t in the cafeteria when Loki challenged Lophrey to a duel yesterday.
Therefore, Johanna only found out about Loki’s duel challenge with expulsion on the line from a member of the Disciplinary Committee.
When she went to the Special Class after finding out, all the classes were already over, and no one was there.
His Communication Orb wasn’t connected either with hers, so there was no way to contact him.
“Sigh…”
She sighed and entered the training grounds.
She wasn’t sure why she had sighed.
“…Huh?”
But contrary to her expectations, Loki was at the training grounds.
He had two ways of training:
Either running around the training grounds,
Or creating clones with his unique magic to correct his form.
However, right now, he was doing neither.
Loki was sitting right in the middle of the training grounds, meditating.
And although he wore that ridiculous mask while meditating, it didn’t look funny at all.
‘Just like Father.’
The Patriarch of House Freya, also known as the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman.
Her father.
When she was young, she would watch from the side whenever her father practiced with his sword.
To be able to watch the Empire’s Greatest Swordsman practice his sword up so close…
Thinking about it now, it was an incredible blessing that any other swordsman would have envied.
Her father would meditate while practicing his sword.
When she was young, not understanding the purpose of meditation, she asked her father.
— Why do you meditate at all?
‘It might seem like meditation is unnecessary and easy, but it’s important and difficult. Meditation is the only moment when a swordsman puts down the sword in his hand, concentrates his mind, examines his inner self, and sharpens the sword of his heart.’
She couldn’t understand those words when she was young.
Because to her, it simply looked like he was sitting and resting.
She only came to understand the difficulty of meditation after coming to the Academy.
More specifically, she realized it while watching other students meditate.
Though they sat with their eyes closed just like her father did, it was different from her father’s meditation.
She couldn’t exactly explain what made it different.
But what they did wasn’t meditation – it was merely sitting and resting.
She tried meditating alone after that, but she couldn’t understand the words ‘sharpen the sword of your heart.’
Loki, sitting in the middle of the training grounds, overlapped with the image of her father meditating; though she had been secretly watching Loki train until now, at this moment she could no longer contain herself.
.
.
.
.
“How do you do it?”
A voice interrupted while I was controlling my emotions with closed eyes.
I opened my eyes in surprise, only to be even more startled.
Johanna was right in front of me.
“Senior Johanna!”
And because I was sitting, she crouched down to meet my eyes.
I was confused by Johanna’s sudden question.
“What are you referring to?”
“The meditation.”
Is what I’m doing now meditation?
I asked myself, but couldn’t find the answer.
“Is what I’m doing now meditation?”
When I asked her back, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again as if she didn’t know what to say.
And then she said something rather out of the blue.
“You’re not running today?”
Today? What does she mean by that?
“Did you watch me train yesterday?”
Johanna silently nodded.
“Oh, that’s embarrassing.”
I thought no one saw me because I trained early and left the training grounds before anyone else woke up; it was embarrassing because I wasn’t training in a particularly cool way.
“It was cool.”
Johanna, as if praising me for doing well, lightly patted my head.
And since I didn’t mind, I accepted her touch.
To be honest, it felt quite good.
“I heard you challenged someone to a duel, with expulsion on the line?”
She didn’t take her hand off my head as she spoke.
And I didn’t tell her to take it off either.
“It just happened that way!”
Actually, it was all part of the plan from the beginning.
The only thing that changed from the initial plan was that the duel was happening sooner than expected.
Even if the worm hadn’t provoked me, I would’ve found a way to get him expelled.
“Is there a reason why you’re going this far?”
A reason why I’m trying so hard to get that worm expelled…
“Of course, there’s a reason.”
“What is it?”
I put my index finger to my lips before speaking.
I couldn’t see my own expression, but it was probably tense.
At times like this, the mask was useful. Because it could hide my expression.
“That’s a secret.”
How could I possibly tell the truth?
How could I say that in the future, you’ll die because of that worm’s trolling?
That I had spent 10 years trying to prevent that?
That even after spending 10 years, I couldn’t save you?
That although it was just a game then, my grief was genuine?
I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her.
Of course, the worm doesn’t kill Johanna directly.
That worm never had such capabilities to begin with.
But the fact that he was involved in Johanna’s death remained unchanged.
And to prevent that from happening, I had to either kill that worm or get him expelled from the Academy.
“Then why aren’t you running today?”
Sensing she might get upset if I said it was another secret, I decided to give her a hint.
“Because right now, physical stamina isn’t what’s important.”
The reason I was meditating instead of running or practicing my unique magic.
Though it was true I lacked stamina,
Right now, emotional control takes priority over physical conditioning.
My true personality emerged uncontrolled in the cafeteria.
And if that happened during the duel, I might actually end up killing that worm.
Though I couldn’t care less whether the worm lived or died,
I still have many things to accomplish at the Academy.
“If you lose, I’ll help you become a knight of the Freya family.”
Unlike last time, she specifically said ‘family knight’ instead of ‘join our family’ to avoid any misunderstandings.
By the way, she still hadn’t removed her hand from my head.
If anything, she was now stroking it.
“Since I won’t lose, there’s no chance I’ll become your family’s knight.”
Come to think of it, she offered me a position as a Freya family knight, Yerika wanted me as her personal guard, and the Emperor offered to take me in.
Positions that others spend their entire lives striving for after graduating from the Academy,
I could easily obtain them just by getting expelled.
People would probably want to tear me apart if they knew.
When I said there was no chance of me becoming her family’s knight, Johanna’s expression darkened for some reason. Still, she didn’t remove her hand from my head, though her stroking became firmer than before.
“Your coat is pretty, Senior.”
“…Ah.”
Though I said it to improve her mood, it seemed to remind her of something as she reached into her coat pocket.
Her other hand continued stroking my head.
“Take this.”
She rummaged through her coat pocket and handed me a Communication Orb.
“What’s this?”
“A Communication Orb.”
I asked about the meaning behind giving it to me, but she seemed to think I didn’t recognize what it was.
Now that I think about it, how many commoners have actually seen a Communication Orb?
“I’ll get going now.”
She, who handed me the Communication Orb, left, her face slightly flushed.
“S-senior.”
I hurriedly called out to her because I had something to say to her.
But whether she didn’t hear or was ignoring me, she didn’t stop and walked out of the training grounds.
“I already have a Communication Orb…”
My words, abandoned by their owner, echoed through the training grounds.
I took out the Communication Orb I received from Yerika from my [Subspace].
Now, I held the Communication Orb I received from Yerika in my left hand and the Communication Orb I received from Johanna in my right hand.
END of CHAPTER
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