One Step

After talking with Principal Nelson-nim about the club, I returned to the classroom.

I stubbornly refused Nelson-nim, who wanted to give me a reward for discovering the corrupted artifact, saying I had already received too many rewards and it was too much of a burden.

I mean, I already got such a nice club room and a private island behind the closet. To be rewarded by Nelson-nim again for finding the corrupted artifact for my own safety, I felt almost guilty.

But Nelson-nim’s stubbornness was no joke, so in the end, we were able to end the conversation with him separately issuing a club overnight pass so I could stay overnight on the island during the weekend.

I returned to the classroom, but I couldn’t concentrate on the class all day because of the thoughts and worries filling my head.

Eventually, I was lost in thought until the end of class, and I parted ways with Lacar and headed to Roel’s second-year classroom instead of the club room.

I went to see if I could talk to Roel about my worries, but as soon as I saw Roel’s face, different words popped out of my mouth.

,Hyung, let’s spar.”

Roel, who was smiling and approaching at my words, looked flustered and asked back.

,What…?”

,Just spar with me once.”

At those words, Roel seemed to read something in my expression, erased the smile from his lips, and answered with a serious expression.

,Okay, let’s go to the sparring room.”

*

I had used the sparring room with Lacar often, but it was my first time with Roel. As if familiar with the sparring room, Roel picked up a training greatsword.

,How many years has it been since we sparred? 7 years? 8 years?”

Roel stood facing me and swung the greatsword to warm up. A slight smile on his lips. It seemed like he was reminiscing about the old days.

,I have a favor to ask, hyung. Don’t hold back and do it properly.”

I held a training spear and stood facing Roel, creating some distance. As I took a deep breath and pointed the spear at Roel, Roel erased his smile and nodded.

The moment a short breath escaped from Roel’s lips, I felt like the atmosphere in the sparring room changed in an instant.

I felt intimidated by the intense fighting spirit and unwavering stance in Roel’s eyes as he held a greatsword as tall as himself.

Roel, standing before me as a warrior, not the person who was always kind to me and had a bright smile, was even frightening.

,Here I go.”

As if warning me, Roel, holding the greatsword vertically, closed the distance at a speed I couldn’t react to.

I swung the spear at Roel, who approached in an instant, to hinder his movement of closing the distance, and created a dimension exit next to Roel to attack.

-Kaang!

Roel, twisting his arm in a dynamic motion to block the spear that appeared suddenly on his left, immediately lowered his stance, avoided the spear that came out of another dimension exit created behind him, and swung the greatsword.

Thanks to constantly practicing repeatedly with Lacar to create distance by taking advantage of the spear, I was able to barely avoid Roel’s greatsword by pulling only my upper body back.

At the same time, I retrieved the spear from the dimension passage and immediately stabbed it at Roel, who was showing an opening by not securing his center of gravity.

-Kaang!

Without securing his center of gravity, Roel, as if falling backward, let go of the greatsword he was holding. Roel, who knocked away the spear, leaped up and grabbed the greatsword in mid-air, then slammed the greatsword down with terrifying force.

At Roel’s appearance trying to land a blow, I took out the move I had prepared. From the moment Roel leaped, I had been spreading magic power throughout my body to prepare space magic.

As I retreated to avoid the blow, my body was sucked into the dimension exit created on the floor. With a brief moment of darkness, I saw Roel’s back as he slammed the greatsword down.

Appearing through the dimension exit created behind Roel, I immediately thrust the spear, but as if sensing the magic power, Roel planted the greatsword into the ground and twisted his body in an instant, barely avoiding the spear, and swung the greatsword as if spinning.

-Kwang!

Since there was no way to avoid Roel’s attack in mid-air, the spear shaft exploded as if bursting. Without hesitation, I threw away the broken spear shaft and took out the training spear I had put in the space warehouse beforehand and threw it at Roel.

At the same time, I thrust another training spear taken out of the space warehouse at Roel. Roel, who lightly knocked away the flying spear, seemed to have read my move, and blocked my attack by slightly twisting his arm, smiling.

Roel, who blocked the attack, closed the distance with the greatsword as if charging. I deliberately swung the spear widely to create an opening, and as if waiting for it, Roel swung the greatsword.

I instantly recognized the path of the greatsword coming in and used space magic there. The greatsword was sucked into the dimension entrance and came out towards Roel’s head, but.

Roel, who quickly grasped the situation, stopped stabbing, and the greatsword stopped right in front of Roel’s forehead. If his reaction had been a little late, he would have been hit by his own attack, but. Roel was not such an easy opponent.

But my move was not over yet. I had anticipated in advance that the trap would not work, so I immediately closed the dimension passage.

Then, the greatsword was cut in half, and the blade that was in front of Roel’s forehead tumbled to the floor with a thud.

Although Roel lost his weapon, I did not let my guard down and immediately launched a series of attacks.

Roel, who had a slightly flustered expression when the greatsword suddenly broke in two, threw away the cut-off greatsword and. Stepped as if dancing to avoid the spear, and at the same time grabbed the spear shaft.

Roel’s strength was several times stronger than my strength trying to retrieve the spear. Roel, who pulled the spear shaft towards himself and instantly closed the distance with me, seemed to have anticipated that I would let go of the spear and step aside, and threw his body to the side at the same time as me and raised his fist.

-Thwack!

I rolled across the floor with a strong pain felt in my face.

It was hard to come to my senses because my brain was shaken by the hit to my jaw. I tried to stand up staggering, but my body acted like a drunkard, out of the brain’s control.

Dizziness, fatigue, and the magic power used to the limit made my whole body feel heavy as if I was exhausted.

,Ross, are you okay?”

Suddenly, a hand popped out in front of my eyes. As I struggled to grab Roel’s hand and raise my body, Roel slapped my arm with an admirable expression.

,You’ve been training hard?”

I let go of Roel’s hand and raised both arms, answering.

,Hyung won.”

The gap between Roel and me was clear. Even if I had avoided Roel’s fist, I was in a situation where I could no longer use space magic because my magic power was depleted.

I fought as if I was on par with Roel through unconventional fighting using space magic, but. Strictly speaking, there was not a single attack that touched Roel’s body. I didn’t even properly counter Roel’s attacks.

If it had been a real weapon instead of a training weapon, the difference would have been even greater.

A sense of inferiority slowly crept into my heart, but I sighed and suppressed the rising inferiority.

,As expected, hyung is amazing.”

To overcome my personality’s inferiority complex, I purely acknowledged and accepted the gap between Roel and me.

,Not knowing where you’re going to attack from and how to return the attack was definitely tricky.”

Unlike me, who was pushing my body to the limit and panting, I felt a bit resentful at Roel’s appearance evaluating the sparring with a comfortable expression as if he had just taken a light stroll, but.

I opened my mouth at Roel’s appearance smiling with satisfaction at my growth and giving me all sorts of compliments.

,Thank you, hyung.”

Roel, who was explaining about securing the center of gravity at my sudden words, closed his mouth and scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

I felt unnecessarily awkward at Roel’s reaction and avoided his gaze.

***

The weekend that the Messiah club members had been waiting for so eagerly arrived. After having breakfast, we gathered in the club room right away.

,Finally today… is the secret of the island going to be revealed…!”

Actually, it’s called an exploration, but it won’t take more than a few hours to look around the whole small island. It looks like a deserted island in a resort at first glance, but Aria’s eyes were shining with anticipation just because it was a gift from Principal Nelson-nim.

,There might be a treasure chest…!”

Kane scratched his nose and answered casually at Aria’s appearance clasping her hands together and sparkling her eyes.

,It’s just a deserted island, what’s the big deal.”

,Are you going to say something discouraging from the start?”

Leaving the two who were starting a fight again, I subtly turned my gaze to Luna, who was holding a water bottle in her left hand instead of a book today.

I hadn’t had any special conversations with Luna since we parted ways like that at the ball. Luna didn’t say anything special to me either….

For some reason, I felt like there was a bit of distance between us.

,Please take care of this too, club president.”

Lacar handed me the tools and backpacks he had prepared for camping. Since I had a space warehouse, there was no need to carry them around with difficulty.

At Aria’s suggestion to create an exploration atmosphere, I headed to the closet wearing the basic equipment like when we first met as Team 19.

The lush palm trees that I was now used to came into view.

,Being like this reminds me of the practical training… Ah, did you pack the food well?”

Aria, who had crossed over to the island first and was waiting for us to come over, suddenly looked at me with anxious eyes while talking to herself.

,Yeah, I packed it full in the space warehouse, so don’t worry.”

I put the things I bought outside and the camping food I had prepared separately by asking the maids for help with Principal Nelson-nim’s help into the space warehouse.

There’s no way a thief raccoon will appear on this island, but even if one does appear, it can never steal what’s in the space warehouse.

Aria raised her thumb, satisfied with my confident answer.

,Then let’s set up the tent first before looking around the island.”

,As expected, the club president knows what’s up.”

Kane raised his hand and stepped forward as if he had been waiting for my words.

Unexpectedly, Kane was very interested in camping. The fact that Kane, who is always bothered by everything, actively prepared camping equipment with Lacar alone showed that he was serious about camping.

In fact, Kane had even been wandering around alone to find a good place to set up a tent when the members were playing on the island a while ago.

Kane, full of passion with his usual annoyance gone, led us to a flat area with a clear view of the sea.

,A flat area suitable for setting up a tent, and it’s far from the forest, so there’s no need to worry about bugs.”

The kind club members applauded Kane, who was speaking proudly with his arms crossed, for his hard work. Although Aria clapped a bit half-heartedly….

As soon as I took out the camping-related items that I had put in the space warehouse, Lacar and Kane stuck to it and took out the tent.

While Lacar and Aria were diligently setting up the tent under Kane’s orders, Luna and I decided to go into the forest to get firewood.

Although the wood for firewood is heavy, I was going to put it in the space warehouse anyway, so I thought it would be easier to pick up fallen branches than for Luna, who was physically uncomfortable, to help set up the tent, so I told Kane.

Now the club members also know that Luna is physically uncomfortable. Everyone had noticed it to some extent, but they were pretending not to know until Luna said something.

Luna still uses honorifics to us, but it seems that she has opened her heart to some extent. She confessed to the members about her physical condition, and as expected, the kind club members didn’t care at all.

Luna and I walked silently into the forest. I picked up branches to use as firewood.

Luna’s appearance of coming to me and handing me the branches when I picked up a certain amount was like a cute child. While I was secretly turning my head and smiling at the thought that she was cute.

,Um, Ross….”

Suddenly, Luna broke the silence and called me.

,Yeah.”

Was I caught smiling alone? As I hurriedly managed my expression and answered, Luna, who had been fidgeting with her right hand for a long time and pursing her lips, finally opened her mouth.

,Should I… speak informally?”

,Huh…?”

Startled by Luna’s words that had no context, I asked back. Luna, who had dyed her snow-white face bright red, bit her lip as if she was embarrassed, and said in a small voice.

,I, I want to get closer… Can I speak informally?”

What did I miss? I couldn’t understand why Luna was suddenly saying these things to me, so I was staring with a slightly dumbfounded face. Luna mumbled softly, on the verge of tears.

,If, if you don’t like it, I won’t….”

,Ah, no! Of course you can.”

I hurriedly waved my hands and said that. Luna nodded her reddened face diligently.

Then, at Luna’s appearance turning around and picking up branches again, I swept my face once, realizing that my face was also burning hot.

I picked up branches diligently in the silent atmosphere. After a little time passed, I felt Luna approaching me with a nervous step, holding a handful of branches.

As I put the branches in the space warehouse and met Luna’s gaze, I held my breath, feeling nervous for no reason at her appearance handing me the branches with an uneasy expression.

,He, here….”

,Yeah….”

As I received the branches and put them in the space warehouse, I heard Luna swallowing. She was startled by the sound herself and quickly lowered her head, making me want to burst out laughing, so I bit my lip tightly.

Luna, who had lifted her head with a determined expression, avoided my gaze powerlessly as if nothing had happened when she met my gaze.

Her appearance had a puppy-like cuteness as if she had been rained on, to the point where my hand unconsciously went up to Luna’s head.

,Shall we… go now?”

I said that, thinking that I had gathered enough to use as firewood and to break the awkward atmosphere.

Luna lifted her head, which she had lowered quickly, and answered as if shouting.

,Okay… Ro, Ross!”

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at Luna’s appearance saying that and turning her body to run towards the members who were setting up the tent.

As I followed Luna and returned to the members, Aria, who was setting up the chairs, looked at Luna and me and asked with a puzzled expression.

,Did you two kiss or something? Why are your faces so red?”

At Aria’s words, Luna shouted, ,N, no!” and glanced at me, then ran away to Lacar, who was still setting up the tent.

At that appearance, Aria tilted her head and looked at me.

,It wasn’t a kiss… We’re speaking informally now.”

,Huh…?”

I sighed, dumbfounded at Aria’s appearance making an even more incomprehensible expression at my words.