043

“Oh my~ You’re out today?”

When I regained consciousness and went to school after four days, Berlis greeted me.

Her gaze swept over my body, particularly my right arm.

“That musty-smelling arm~ the baby kitten must have fixed it for you. I always get that stale smell whenever I’m near holy power~.”

I nodded and glanced at my right arm.

Under the thick winter clothes, there was a faint scar from a cut near my elbow.

I heard that there was a long, violent cut from my elbow to my shoulder, as if it had been cut by a sword.

It was a wound that might never have been healed even with holy power if Instructor Freutche had been even a little late in carrying me and running.

“Ooh-hoo-hoo. What to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your right arm~ It seems the yin energy in your road has gotten worse because you were injured so badly~ Oh dear~.”

“My disciples already told me not to swing a sword for a while.”

“That must be too harsh for a swordsmanship master~.”

I shook my head.

Were my disciples harsh on me?

No, those guys were currently running around for me more diligently than anyone else.

When I woke up, Rozalin was away, having requested a business trip.

According to Sordian, she had gone quite a long way to deliver my letter.

There was a message that she probably wouldn't be back before the vacation ended, perhaps because the distance was farther than the House of Marquis Vürhelm.

— I’ll bring back some food for you, Teacher.

A short memo was left, but considering the last thing she had said she would feed me was a two-headed centipede, I wasn't looking forward to it.

Yuria had been following me around ever since she regained consciousness.

She seemed worried that I might do something strange again, but her eyes were strangely serious.

In between, she would ask questions about good and evil, and morality, and since she already had a deep understanding of religion, the level of her questions was quite high.

As we exchanged such questions, it felt like the resignation and pessimism that lingered in Yuria’s eyes were slowly lifting.

‘I hope it goes in a good direction.’

And there was one person Yuria was particularly on edge about.

It was Berlis.

Even now, right behind me.

She was glaring at Berlis with her eyes wide open, revealing her fighting spirit to the point where she could start a battle at any moment.

And Berlis was talking to me with a smile, as if Yuria wasn't even there.

“So, was it helpful?”

At Berlis’s words, which were said as if she knew everything, Yuria’s fighting spirit grew stronger.

Even though she was behind me, my skin tingled and my hair stood on end.

The reason even someone like me could directly feel such a strong aura must have been because of the holy power.

And it meant that Yuria was that serious.

So I grabbed Yuria’s shoulder to calm her down and said.

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief~ Ahaha. Then since I'm the Great Master’s master, am I the Great Great Master~ Isn't that right, you lacking little girl?”

Yuria just ground her teeth in response.

‘Was it helpful, she asks.’

It was certainly helpful.

I had sensed what mana was, and based on that, I had also learned how to connect swordsmanship and mana.

I had also organized the theory a little more systematically.

‘I can't use it in my swordsmanship right now.’

What I had created were the most basic sword forms.

I had focused on developing my body’s strength and flexibility, and laying the foundation to use any swordsmanship freely.

Because of that, the effect was weaker than expected when the concept of mana was added.

‘No, is it strong?’

Among the swordsmanships circulating in the streets, there were many that were a mess from the perspective of mana.

Even Fel’s Three Swordsmanships were like that.

The way the sword was moved or the posture often completely severed or tangled the body’s Mana Road.

If I changed the sword form in the way I had modified it, this road became somewhat smoother.

‘I instinctively modified it following the path of mana.’

And that was why my body had hurt the more I modified it.

Compared to such a sword form, the sword form of the basic swordsmanship had a clean circulation of the Mana Road.

When compared to other swordsmanships of a similar level, it showed great power.

‘But the problem isn't whether I knew the theory.’

The education wasn't done.

I let out a sigh and looked at Sordian.

He was in the center of the training ground, sweating profusely and concentrating.

He had his eyes tightly closed, as if concentrating on the energy he felt inside his body, but.

“Damn it!”

Sordian swore and lowered his sword to the ground.

“Can’t you do it?”

“Damn it, that mana what? Is this really something that works?”

“I wish I could show you, but you know I can't.”

“Damn it!”

Sordian spewed out curses that were uncharacteristic of him.

In fact, it wasn't that I couldn't understand his feelings.

He hadn't gotten a feel for mana at all, even after four days of training.

“Damn it, is it always this difficult?”

“According to the theory book I received from Instructor Berlis, it is said that among beginner magicians, those without talent take more than a year just to feel mana.”

“And the talented ones?”

“Usually half a day. Some can feel it in just ten minutes.”

“So I'm not the weird one, is that it? Damn it, apart from that, I feel really dirty.”

It wasn't just Sordian.

I had tried it with a few students who were left in the school dormitory, but no one had experienced the Mana Road and gotten a feel for it.

‘Is it this difficult?’

I even thought of asking Berlis for help, wondering if it was really because they couldn't feel mana properly.

Sordian vehemently refused, saying he absolutely hated it.

“You’re not in your right mind, are you? You want me to get hit by magic?”

“The effect was good.”

“That’s for madmen like you to do. Besides, do you think I've never been hit by magic before?”

You have?

“Damn it, I might look like a pushover because I got beaten up by your disciple and the young master, but I was still a member of the Royal Knights.”

“I’ve never looked down on you. But……”

“I've experienced spells, holy power, and magic. And I know what it feels like. But materializing it into a sword is a completely different story.”

Sordian scratched the back of his head and chose his words.

“Just because we always breathe doesn't mean we walk around feeling the air.”

Could it be that because he feels it so naturally, it's difficult for him to feel the mana?

Then what about me?

At that moment, Yuria, who was sitting on one side and watching our training, offered a hypothesis.

“For the Great Master, even that natural air is a threat, so his body may have become more sensitive.”

“You mean my constitution actually made me more receptive to mana?”

So that was why what was possible for me just by getting hit by magic and swinging a sword was impossible for Sordian.

The more one knew about mana and the better one’s body was, the harder it became.

‘And Pan realized this in that situation.’

Pan’s talent is truly amazing.

“I've seen countless talented people in my life, but you’re the first one who’s as annoying as you are, Teacher.”

But just as I envied Pan’s talent, Sordian seemed to envy my talent as well.

Unnecessarily.

“So you’re saying that even a talentless person can feel mana in a year?”

Sordian swung his sword a few more times.

It was to find the energy moving inside his body by swinging the sword himself.

“Still, since I made it to the Imperial Royal Knights, I'll probably get a feel for it during the vacation. Damn it, since learning mana is so amazing, I’ll surprise the guard captain when she comes back, won’t I?”

Sordian’s eyes seemed to be filled with determination as he said that.

In the end, only his determination was good.

A month from then.

He didn't feel the mana until the very end.

* * *

The great forest of the north was not named so because the trees were lush.

People often imagine wide green leaves or colorful flowers when they hear the name ‘forest.’

What filled the great forest was only darkness.

The trees that stretched towards the sun were well over 80m tall, and the circumference of their bases was over 25m.

The ancient elves had even made their homes in the holes opened up by these trees.

Because of that, despite the crown shyness where the branches and leaves of the trees grew at a certain distance without touching each other, sunlight rarely reached the ground.

Even in the afternoon, when the sun was shining at an angle, night came early in the great forest.

Awoooo—!

The night was a time when wild creatures contemplated the boundary between life and death.

Packs of beasts roamed the area, and huge monsters also preyed on such beasts.

But in the great forest, there was an area that even they avoided.

“Ulf.”

It was Ulf’s territory.

Rozalin placed the torch she was holding on the dirt floor.

With a flare, every time the flames flickered, the figures of people hidden in the shadows of the trees were revealed.

They were the people who had started following her shortly after she entered this forest.

“You’ve observed enough. If this body has come all this way, why don’t you show your face?”

At her words, the surrounding shadows flickered like flames.

It was an aura as if the entire forest was about to scold Rozalin for her rudeness.

The huge trees writhed as if they were alive, and though there was not a single breeze, the countless branches rustled, creating a commotion that sounded like laughter.

“The thief has a lot to say.”

And from the shadows, a figure slowly appeared.

It was a woman in her 30s with a tall stature, reaching 175cm.

Her hair was white as snow, and conversely, her pupils were a darkness that shone even in the gloom of the great forest.

Below her eyes, complex green patterns were drawn on both her cheeks, and those patterns continued down her neck to her wrists.

On her head, she wore a skull that looked like a wolf’s head, and over her revealing clothes, she wore a grayish-white fur coat that covered her entire body.

She was holding a huge, reddish-brown wooden staff, and on top of that staff, a single flower with a mix of red and purple was blooming.

Ulf.

The 6th-circle magician who protected the great forest and the Wolf King’s twin sister.

“Hey, you're still holding on to something from so long ago. That was all in a past life.”

“Your trashy tongue is the same as ever. Well, that's why you thought of embezzling the mercenary guild’s funds and running away.”

In the past life, when Rozalin was active in the mercenary guild, she was the captain of the Ulf Mercenary Guild to which she had belonged.

Rozalin faced her with a confident expression.

“That’s because the captain didn’t care about the world being screwed and just spouted nonsense.”

“It seems your guts are attached to your arm. Since you’ve grown some guts with one arm, I’ll have to cut that arm off so you’ll crawl like you used to.”

Tsk, this is why I didn't want to come.

Rozalin clicked her tongue inwardly and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.

But.

“I didn't come here to fight or pick a fight today.”

“Haha, when did you ever come for that purpose? The battle just started.”

“It's a problem related to Teacher Cassian.”

When Cassian’s name was mentioned, Ulf shut her mouth and stared at Rozalin.

“Cassian. Was he Pan’s master? Come to think of it, you said you were a member of that academy too.”

As if she didn’t know.

Rozalin snorted inwardly.

Ulf and the Wolf King were people who had already obtained all that information and were probably pulling the strings from behind.

Insidious, and sinister.

But that was why they were obsessive about the knowledge and information of this world.

“First of all…… are you, by any chance, interested in starting with a letter with our Teacher?”

Rozalin took a letter from her pocket.

Ulf blinked her large eyes.

She seemed to have a hard time grasping the meaning of what she had just heard.

The shadows hiding in the great forest also trembled uneasily.

They had to rack their brains to understand the meaning of what they had just heard.

Rozalin also blinked once.

Seeing their strange reaction, she felt she had conveyed something wrong and went over her memory of a few seconds ago.

“Ah, shit, wait a minute, what I said wasn't that I was setting you up with our old-maid teacher……!”

Huge vines shot up from the ground as if they were alive, and Rozalin hurriedly drew her silver sword.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.