episode_0279

“Shit…”

Puberty, a time when one should dream and be full of youthfulness,

Raonjena, a teenage girl, had never even dreamed, let alone felt it.

Such things are usually awakened under good relationships, but Raonjena’s life began with being cruelly abandoned by her parents, so her life in her head was only filled with doubt, distrust, and betrayal.

“Kikikit! You hesitated like an idiot… that’s why you ended up like this…”

At least she had a talent for fighting and swordsmanship. So, she joined a bandit group and worked as a child soldier for an assassination squad to survive.

Then, she received an order from above to kill a colleague she had developed some affection for. While hesitating during the mission, she was preemptively attacked by her colleague who had grasped the situation, resulting in a severe injury.

“The sky… I want to see the sky…”

The bleeding was severe. Leaning against a large tree in the dense forest in a miserable state, Raonjena looked up at the sky.

Although it wasn’t fully visible due to the tall trees, a clear blue sky certainly came into her view.

But even so, she wanted to see the sky.

That sky symbolized a different kind of human from herself, not a sewer-like human, but a human full of hope.

She didn’t have a specific dream, but a vague deprivation made Raonjena crave it.

Parents who abused her and sold her off for money, and colleagues and heads who used her and discarded her like cheap tools,

She wanted to meet someone who was the complete opposite of them even once before closing her eyes.

Then, at that moment,

‘Ah…!!!’

Raonjena experienced a brilliant light that illuminated not only the surrounding dark forest but also her fading vision.

“My, my… you’re not looking your best.”

And that light transformed into the appearance of a complete person and spoke to Raonjena.

‘I can tell! I can feel it! This person is the sky!’

Because Raonjena herself had grown up in a gutter and only rolled around in it, she instinctively felt the brilliance of the being in front of her deeply in her heart and even filling her soul.

The one who came to her was the sky-like person she had so longed for.

“Let’s stay here together until you get better. I’m also wandering, but I’m planning to stay here for a while.”

The man treated Raonjena, provided her with food, drink, and a place to rest.

“My name is Raonjena. Thank you for saving me.”

Raonjena, holding a bowl of warm porridge in her hands, expressed her gratitude for the man’s care.

“Raonjena, what a beautiful name? Then it’s only polite to tell you my name too.”

Smiling…!

Unlike her miserable and desperate appearance when she was dying, Raonjena’s eyes and voice were just right for her age.

Perhaps pleased and glad to see that, the man smiled and responded.

And then he told Raonjena his name.

“I am Ulysses. Ulysses Schneider. A person who is pursuing enlightenment through the sword.”

He was Ulysses Schneider.

Ulysses Schneider in his youth, just entering the realm of Sword Master.

‘I will become strong like my teacher.’

Raonjena, who had faced the sky she had longed for, could not leave Ulysses’ side even after her injuries healed.

So, she persistently followed him, and Ulysses, who surrendered to her will, took her as his disciple.

“I am truly happy that my sword seems to be helpful to you. Good. I will also try to be a great teacher.”

Although he became a Sword Master, he was still in the process of enlightenment during this period, so he lived in seclusion and did not easily accept disciples.

However, Raonjena, who had fallen into a gutter, begged so earnestly.

Raonjena’s shadow could have led her to walk a distorted path of the sword, but Ulysses wanted to be a source of strength for this child as much as he could.

“I wasn’t much different from you when I was very young.”

Ulysses, as a survivor of Atlantis who had come against the twisted dimension, had no ties.

As such, his childhood was also one of wandering and loneliness.

‘I see! Teacher was no different from me! I will become like Teacher! I will be like Teacher! So I will become a meaningful existence to Teacher!’

Raonjena becoming Ulysses’ disciple was like a dream.

It felt like she was dreaming.

Because she felt like she belonged to someone for the first time in her life.

A feeling that a relationship was created not out of necessity or profit, but as a human being.

To Raonjena, Ulysses was a father, a brother, a friend, and a teacher.

He was also a goal and an object of longing to be emulated.

“Outstanding. And intelligent. If someone discusses my best disciple, regardless of age, that name should definitely be Raonjena. Whenever I am away, all of you here should train under Raonjena’s guidance.”

Raonjena was a genius. Although she was born in a gutter, she was a flower.

Despite starting swordsmanship late, she was judged to be a User Alpha at the age of 19, after her mana began to open in her mid-teens.

And it wasn’t just about leveling up quickly.

She learned and applied Ulysses’ swordsmanship much faster than the existing disciples.

All of that was undoubtedly the result of talent and tireless effort, so her teacher Ulysses appointed her as his right-hand man, even though she was only in her late teens, and boosted her self-esteem.

‘I will become the next Jedi! So I will further enhance my teacher’s name! Our teacher is not someone who should be buried in seclusion like this!’

Raonjena felt like she was in a dream. She was so happy that her heart felt like it would burst.

Because being recognized as a special person by a special being is like that.

Especially for Raonjena, who had a self-esteem so low that she craved the sky from the gutter, it was joy and a miracle itself.

Raonjena respected and admired Ulysses, who gave her such an opportunity and created the results.

She wanted to announce that greatness with her own hands, and that’s how Raonjena’s dream became to remain as a special disciple to Ulysses, the sky.

But soon, Raonjena’s dream was threatened.

“For the time being, I think I should pay attention to Eugene.”

Ulysses had secretly married and had a son.

“I think I should be by his side as much as possible right now. So during that time, I will have Raonjena lead the Sophist’s disciples.”

Serazad died giving birth to Eugene Schneider, and Ulysses suffered great sorrow.

But his sorrow could not last long.

Because his son, like a lump of blood, was with him.

In a normal situation, he would have asked an acquaintance to share the roles, but it was difficult to show his demon wife and half-demon child at this time.

So Ulysses decided to devote his time solely to Eugene until he grew up to some extent.

But that decision

‘I see… is this the limit for me, who is not a blood relative…?’

It made Raonjena, who looked up to Ulysses like the sky, feel great frustration and loss.

‘I wanted to become Teacher’s sword. I wanted to become the person who would enhance Teacher’s honor more than anyone else… is that position not mine after all…?’

Raonjena, who was in her early twenties, still hadn’t escaped from the age of about 10 years old deep inside.

It is the result of extreme deprivation caused by not experiencing the age when she should have grown up receiving recognition from her parents.

That’s why she followed Ulysses like a father, and wanted to be recognized by him not just as a disciple, but as a child.

But Ulysses had a biological son, and in Raonjena’s mind, the sense of homogeneity and elation she had felt until now seemed like a mirage.

‘Am I… being abandoned like this again…?’

She was able to overcome that emptiness to some extent.

However, what truly makes her experience psychological rock bottom is none other than being abandoned.

Even if you experience being abandoned again and again, you never get used to it.

Having been abandoned by her parents, and then used as a tool and abandoned by everyone she had tried to be with in order to survive, Raonjena smiled bitterly as if she were strong, but all sorts of wounds were engraved in her heart.

That’s why Ulysses having a biological son and simply saying that he needed to spend more time with him caused her to have PTSD.

‘Is there no way? A way to regain Teacher’s favor!’

But Raonjena did not give up.

Because she felt that Ulysses was fundamentally different from those who had abandoned her so far.

Raonjena wanted to be recognized by the brilliant being named Ulysses, not anyone else.

When Raonjena began to have a distorted obsession without properly knowing her teacher’s situation,

“I’m really worried about my precious friend, Ulysses Schneider.”

A serpent’s voice seeped into her heart.

“What do you mean, Duke Antoine?”

The identity of the snake was none other than Antoine Dessel d’Oblean, who had just become the head of the Oblean family.

When Ulysses was unable to properly care for the Sophists because he was taking care of young Eugene, Antoine, who had become a Sword Seeker at this time, came to the Sophist’s Idea to help with training.

In the meantime, Antoine made an unexpected remark about Ulysses,

Raonjena reacted almost reflexively.

“Yes, Raonjena, you must have a relationship with Ulysses that is more than just teacher and disciple, almost like family. I need to tell you about it.”

When Raonjena showed a reaction full of obsession, Antoine slightly composed himself and replied in an open-hearted tone.

“The reason Antoine doesn’t show up at the Sophist’s Idea as much as before is not just because he’s taking care of his son.”

Then, as if he knew a great secret, he closed his eyes and continued.

“If it’s not because of Eugene…?”

It was a very tempting statement for Raonjena, who was jealous of Eugene Schneider.

“Ulysses has previously performed secret missions commissioned by the Imperial Family and the Holy See.”

Then, Antoine brought up the fact that Ulysses had sealed the dimensional rift with Marianne, and that he had investigated the Eclipse Zone of the Evil God in Enclema.

“They were things that were highly related to magical energy. In the process of carrying out those missions, bad energies have affected Ulysses’ body.”

He claimed that Ulysses’ body was not in good condition due to those missions.

“Th, that can’t be… Teacher received such dangerous quests from them!”

Raonjena accepted Antoine’s words as they were.

‘I knew it! There’s no way Teacher would abandon me! Teacher truly cares for me! That’s why he took me in!’

Because to her, who was floundering in the water called obsession, it was like a lifeline that she could immediately grab.