“Um… I’m sorry about this, you guys.”

Behind her, the corpses were sprawled out, still clutching their swords.

Ha-yeon approached the two A-ranks and said that.

To her apology, the black-haired female student, Cheon-seo-a, replied.

This one was from the ‘Thunderclap Cheon Family,’ who ruled over the Thunderclap Palace.

‘And the direct line, too.’

A status I had to be careful of as well.

Well, it wasn’t like I’d go easy on her because of it.

‘But if you looked at appearances, Han Ji-hyeok seemed like he’d be the louder one, but surprisingly, he’s quiet, and Cheon-seo-a is the lively one.’

Han Ji-hyeok, with his silver hair and blue eyes, seemed like the popular one, while the decadent Cheon-seo-a, with her black hair and black eyes, seemed like the loner.

But if you looked closely, those blue eyes lacked vitality (at least, that’s what I thought), and you could see her covering up that decadent beauty with the liveliness of a popular kid.

“Since our time is up for today… come find me sometime today or tomorrow, and I’ll help you out as much as I can.”

Well, what could I do?

I had to carve out some time.

Goodbye to my free time today or tomorrow.

‘Still, I can’t stand guys like that.’

I thought, looking at the corpses.

Even before I made a contract with a Constellation, back when I was just a low-level employee at the Association, I always thought the basics were important and honed them.

The basics were the core of all swordsmanship, and without them, other swordsmanship was just flimsy trickery.

‘They should have come to their senses after that.’

Thinking that, Ha-yeon took off her gloves and said to them,

“Good work, everyone, I’m off. You guys work hard in the next class, too!”

After Ha-yeon left.

Those who remained despaired at the thought of having to attend a class that lasted for two more hours with their bodies barely able to move.

“Ugh…”

Other teachers might have things to do besides teach, but Ha-yeon didn’t.

Going to the faculty room earlier was just to check in, not because she had anything specific to do.

So, where she was now was the dormitory.

The dormitory for teachers only.

Sprawled out on the sofa there, Ha-yeon let out a sound like her soul was leaving her body and turned on the TV.

‘How come there isn’t a single computer?’

Even though it was the teachers’ dormitory, there wasn’t a computer.

You could install one, but it seemed like they didn’t provide them as a basic amenity.

I was only going to be here for a week, so buying a computer seemed like a waste, so I turned on the TV, and what popped up immediately made me feel terrible.

[New King Church Appears at the gate Again, Was This the Work of a Cardinal?]

[Traces of Scorched Earth, Suspected to be Thunderclap of Reverse Heaven – Baek.]

[New King Church. How Far Will They Go?]

Things about the New King Church.

And not catching them, but only reports of damage.

“What to do…”

The future of our country was bleak.

No, the future of the world was bleak.

“…Let’s just go out.”

Watching that wasn’t going to make anything better, and honestly, it had ruined the good mood I was in earlier, so I left the dormitory to get some fresh air.

And where I ended up was none other than a park.

A corner spot, at that.

“Haaam…”

Feeling the warm sunlight shining on her, she sprawled out on the bench.

You could say it would be better to just lie in bed in the dormitory, but this sunlight!

“Wow…”

“She’s really pretty… Hey, wanna try hitting on her?”

“Hitting on her? Don’t you know she’s the Sword Demon?”

The sunlight coming through the leaves shone directly on Ha-yeon.

Her blonde hair and white skin combined to create a scene of a true angel descending.

Except for that dark professor’s robe, of course.

Two days passed like that, and it was Wednesday.

Why the sudden time skip?

Because there was really nothing to tell.

The two A-ranks must have been busy, because they postponed the sparring until today.

All I did was watch the students’ stances, teach classes, and eat and play!

That’s right, nothing!

‘And now I’m doing something worth talking about!’

As usual, after finishing the (hellish) class, I came back to the dormitory to rest when I got a text message on the phone number I gave to Cheon-seo-a, the more outgoing of the two A-ranks.

[Is it okay if we spar now?]

I replied that it was fine, of course, and headed to the sparring grounds she mentioned.

“You’re here?”

Entering the sparring grounds, I saw the black-haired, black-eyed girl, Cheon-seo-a.

Ha-yeon replied simply to her greeting and entered the sparring grounds.

“What… how should I do this? Should I fight with a wooden sword, seal my mana, or not use skills… Not moving is also an option.”

Honestly, even if we were sparring, it was only natural to give her a handicap.

Even if they were A-ranks, their level was definitely low.

Even Lee Seol-ah, who was at the top of A-rank, on the verge of stepping into S-rank, couldn’t even keep up with the tip of my toes.

Well, that was because she was Ground, 20th place.

There was an immense wall between 19th and 20th place, but even so, she was 20th out of hundreds of millions of Hunters.

Besides, if I didn’t control my strength properly, this place would be destroyed, and I’d have to pay for the damages.

But it seemed like the girl had other ideas.

“Can’t you just go all out?”

…Was she crazy?

“That won’t work, you absolutely can’t handle it. Well… let’s do this, then. I won’t use skills, or rather, I’ll only use mana to strengthen my body and sword. And I won’t use the Immortal Longsword.”

Honestly, even with just that, I could crush most A-ranks.

But Cheon-seo-a still seemed dissatisfied, puffing out her cheeks as she prepared to fight.

“Okay…”

“In exchange, if you win… um… what would be good? Okay, I’ll let you call me for help once when you need it.”

The condition for victory in the sparring match was to damage one of my possessions within 5 minutes.

“Okay. Then I’ll start.”

Cheon-seo-a said, taking a stance.

No weapon was visible.

It didn’t look like a martial arts stance either.

Then the answer was.

‘Magic!’

At the same time, a pure white Flash, no, lightning struck towards Ha-yeon.

“Lightning 7th Circle Magic.”

Thunderclap.

Ha-yeon was faster, but Cheon-seo-a, with crackling electricity and hair that had turned a lemon-colored blonde, unleashed a lightning strike at the spot where Ha-yeon ‘had been.’

Yes, had been.

“Wow… that was pretty amazing? If I had been hit, it would have hurt a bit.”

Ha-yeon appeared from Cheon-seo-a’s blind spot.

As she said, that lightning strike was quite dangerous.

7th Circle Magic was something only A+ ranks could use, so how did she use it?

It wasn’t a skill itself, but belonged to the ‘Advanced Lightning Magic’ skill, so you had to raise your proficiency.

“Wait, you dodged that?”

I found out later that Cheon-seo-a had secretly drawn out more than half of the mana in her body and poured it out, trying her best not to let Ha-yeon notice.

“You should be dodging me first!”

Saying that, Ha-yeon swung down the wooden sword, filled with mana.

Cheon-seo-a used 4th Circle Lightning Magic, Lightning Armor, and retreated.

She had to use magic to evade.

Lightning Armor activated instantly, and it was easy to learn, but it consumed mana quickly.

If it went to a long-term battle, Cheon-seo-a was guaranteed to lose.

That’s why she must have thought she had to use all the mana she had, even the mana she didn’t have.

“Lightning 6th Circle Magic.”

Lightning Spiral Spear.

Of course, this was a name Cheon-seo-a made up herself.

In any case, a spear of lightning in the shape of lightning, with ultra-high pressure, was created in an instant and flew towards Ha-yeon at high speed.

Ha-yeon unleashed a swordsmanship without any mana.

Northern Demon Swordsmanship, which she hadn’t used in a long time.

She slightly modified the swordsmanship that had been passively activated all this time and turned it into a form.

It was a feat that she could never have done before.

“3rd Form, Wind Flowing Downward.”

Even so, it was difficult to unleash its full power without mana.

‘Just deflecting it is enough.’

She deflected the lightning to the side, and it was absorbed by the barrier set up in the sparring grounds.

Then Ha-yeon immediately rushed in.

Cheon-seo-a had used most of her mana and couldn’t react properly due to the aftereffects of using a large attack.

She aimed for the neck as it was…!

Crack.

“…Ah, no, wait, this isn’t right!”

The wooden sword couldn’t withstand the high heat of the lightning and turned to ashes.

There was a limit to how much mana I could infuse it with.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

“I guess… you should have used your real weapon instead of holding back.”

I know, why did I do that?

“Haa… I lost the sparring match.”

The wooden sword was one of my possessions, after all.

I lost.

Cheon-seo-a approached Ha-yeon, who came out of the sparring grounds and sat heavily on the bench in the training grounds, sighing, and asked.

“Then it’s really okay for me to call you when I need you later?”

“As long as it’s not something that really puts me in a difficult position.”

Attacks that go against the Association, things that happen in the shadows.

Those were the difficult things that I really shouldn’t do.

Cheon-seo-a seemed to know that much, nodding and smiling with a good expression.

Come to think of it, her lemon-colored hair had turned back to black.

“So, is there anything else?”

“No? Oh, would you like to have dinner with me?”

“Dinner?”

Looking at the time, it was 7 o’clock.

It was dinnertime.

“I’d love to, I’ve been eating alone ever since I came to the Academy. Who’s paying?”

“I’ll pay! You sparred with me, after all.”

“Then I won’t refuse.”

And so, the two went to a noodle restaurant near the Academy that was rumored to be delicious.

This noodle restaurant was also a place that Cheon-seo-a took her to, for Ha-yeon, who didn’t know the famous restaurants near the Academy.

And the money that came out for the meal was only 70,000 won for two people.

This was crazy.