Ch.28Training (6)

# *

Ash covered his mouth with his hand and pondered for a moment.

The sensation of ice bullets piercing his body.

The impact transmitted through the bear fur.

Even if Silvia controlled her strength, taking those ice fragments directly without the bear fur would result in more than just bruises.

Even a glancing blow would tear his skin, and a direct hit could break bones.

Especially if he took a hit to the stomach, in the worst case, it could damage his internal organs.

Ash trembled at Silvia’s resolute attitude.

Her expression strongly revealed both worry and dissatisfaction.

Why was she making such a face?

Was she worried? Or dissatisfied with his slow growth?

Ash worried that she might think he was pathetic.

But at the same time, he could sense it.

Some emotion hidden behind her expression.

Ash could faintly detect her expectation from the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

Ash squeezed his eyes shut and removed his hand from his mouth.

“…I’ll do it.”

To hell with it.

It’ll work out somehow.

With such thoughts, Ash nervously accepted her proposal.

Silvia’s holy power and pharmaceutical knowledge were exceptional enough to have saved Ash when he was nearly dead, so at the very least, he wouldn’t die.

‘Silvia is hiding it to avoid pressuring me, but I can clearly see it.’

She was expecting something.

If that was the case, he couldn’t betray those expectations.

Though he couldn’t say it aloud because he felt so inadequate, he was still ‘a man.’

When expectations are placed on you, you want to prove yourself.

Ash steeled his resolve.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’ll do it.”

Silvia smiled faintly.

As Ash sensed, she was indeed expecting something.

However, what she was expecting wasn’t his growth or success.

‘If I hurt him just enough, he’ll understand.’

How powerless he is.

How much he needs me.

Silvia intended to teach Ash with his entire body that he could never survive without being by her side.

“Get ready, Ash.”

Silvia looked at Ash’s determined expression.

Eventually, a twisted smile broke through her face.

Ah, Ash.

You can hurt as much as you want.

You can be frustrated as much as you want.

Even if you cry loudly, I can happily listen beside you.

Cold air swirled from Silvia’s fingertips.

# *

Ash sprang up from the sand like a coiled spring.

Though his legs were slow, he had to move as hard as possible to gain even a little time to react to the incoming ice.

At that moment, Ash caught the sound of something flying toward him.

It was a sound he had heard hundreds of times over the past week.

As soon as he identified the sound, Ash rolled to the side.

“Already!”

With a thud, sand erupted like rain over Ash’s head as something hit the ground.

Rising immediately after rolling on the ground, Ash backed away while looking at Silvia with a slightly bewildered expression.

‘…Somehow, the flying speed seems too fast?’

Ash glanced at the ground while brushing off the sand stuck to his face and hair due to sweat.

The sandy ground was deeply gouged as if scooped out two or three times with a basket.

Though he had reacted instinctively, this trace alone made it clear that she was throwing faster and stronger than usual.

According to the rules, he was free to dodge, but that wouldn’t count as him blocking it.

In other words, Ash had to melt five of these ice bullets coming at him with such force.

Sensing something was wrong, Ash shouted.

“Silvia, you know I’m not wearing the bear fur right now…!”

Ash stopped speaking and immediately swung his hand.

Following the arc of his arm, a flame-wrapped beast appeared, leaving a trail of fire, and instantly swallowed the ice before disappearing.

Ash gasped in surprise.

“…Huh, hah,”

“Huh, you blocked it?”

“…Silvia?”

“Four more to go.”

Silvia was approaching Ash, casually tossing and catching an ice piece she had created in her hand.

Ash started to say something but closed his mouth and began running again.

Suddenly, a sound like something exploding came from behind him.

Ash turned around to track the trajectory of the incoming ice.

Silvia had disappeared.

“…What?”

Silvia, who had suddenly vanished, was nowhere to be seen no matter where he looked.

At that moment, realizing something, Ash abruptly stopped and made a big leap backward despite no warning.

Simultaneously, something from the sky crashed explosively into the spot where Ash had been standing.

“Kak!”

Ash blocked the flying sand with one arm and looked up.

In the sky, Silvia was extending her arm backward to throw the next ice.

The earlier explosion was the sound of Silvia leaping off the ground.

‘Something’s off about the difficulty level?’

Ash thought as he immediately released fire from his fingertips.

Seeing the fire Ash had prepared in advance, Silvia paused her arm that was about to throw the ice and began falling directly toward Ash’s position.

Ash was terrified.

He realized that what Silvia had been aiming for from the beginning wasn’t just an aerial surprise attack.

The reason she jumped was to close the distance with Ash instantly.

At close range, it would be impossible to even dodge, let alone block.

Of course, Silvia could easily catch up with Ash’s pitiful running just by lightly running herself, but she wanted something more dramatic.

She wanted Ash to be more frightened.

Ash chanted a spell.

At the same time, Silvia landed on the ground with enough force to overturn all the surrounding sand.

BOOM!

A massive sound like a house collapsing echoed through the forest.

Silvia prepared to throw the ice.

Though she had to close her eyes due to the sand, she was confident she could locate Ash’s position by the sound of sand hitting him, which was why she executed this tactic.

However, no matter how much she listened, there was no sound of sand hitting Ash anywhere around.

“…Ash?”

“…Phew,”

A distant sound of heavy breathing was heard.

Silvia slowly opened her eyes after all the sand that had risen into the air had fallen back to the ground, peering through the acrid dust.

Ash was already more than 10 meters away from Silvia.

“…Teleport?”

Silvia asked, tilting her head.

“No way. How could I use such a legendary magic?”

“My old comrade used to use it all the time.”

“…Was that comrade insane?”

“What did you do?”

Ash smiled and said:

“Tumble.”

Tumble.

A simple beginner magic that makes objects fall or roll.

It was a magic that even Silvia could use.

She usually used it to trip difficult magical beasts and then cut them down, but typically it only made targets fall in place.

“Tumble, but you got that far away so quickly?”

“I was so scared of you that I cast it five times in a row. I ended up here after rolling around.”

“Five times?”

“I’ve never used the same magic consecutively before, but it turns out it works.”

Ash smiled and started running away again.

Silvia felt anxious as she watched Ash’s retreating figure.

Magic is created by weaving incantations.

Incantations are words imbued with power.

Magic created by weaving five or fewer incantations is beginner magic.

Twenty or fewer is intermediate magic.

Tumble is created by combining three words.

Each meaning “pull,” “push,” and “pull again.”

It’s a magic that makes targets lose balance by repeatedly pulling and pushing.

Ash said he used Tumble five times, but that alone wouldn’t allow continuous rolling.

The middle “push” incantation would interfere.

Perhaps Ash unconsciously omitted the push magic.

He said five times, so “pull, push, pull” and then two more pulls, five times.

A combination of thirteen words.

He essentially used what amounted to intermediate magic in that brief moment.

“…This is troubling,”

“What did you say?”

“…”

Silvia gritted her teeth.

Ash’s growth was progressing much faster than Silvia had anticipated.

Seeing Ash skillfully evading her attacks and now turning his back to flee from her, an inexplicable fear rose to her throat.

Silvia created a handful of ice fragments.

“…Calm down.”

Silvia was trying hard to calm her excited emotions by taking slow, deep breaths.

If she miscalculated her strength, Ash would die like an insect crushed under a shoe.

It would be a terrible joke if she, who feared losing him so much, ended up killing him with her own hands.

But at the same time, it was clear that with attacks at the current level, Ash would easily pass this test.

She had thought that removing the bear fur would give Ash more fear and pressure, but perhaps because he had shed the heavy fur, Ash was acting much more nimbly and making quicker judgments than expected.

“This isn’t what I imagined.”

What should I do?

At this rate, Ash might leave me.

Just like his back that I see now, he might turn away from me and run.

Silvia considered shooting all the ice in her hand.

If she controlled her strength properly, being hit by these numerous ice fragments would only result in him fainting.

No, that won’t work.

If Ash responds calmly, he might melt more than five pieces of ice at once, and the test would end right there.

Feeling that things were increasingly diverging from her initial plan, Silvia bit her lip in anxiety.

“…I didn’t realize controlling my strength to avoid killing would be this difficult.”

Silvia quietly muttered as she dropped all but three pieces of ice from her hand.

Ash was still accustomed to ice coming one at a time.

But she had never actually said or decided that she would only throw them that way.

In such a situation, if she threw multiple pieces at once, not just two but three simultaneously?

The surprised Ash would surely miss at least one piece of ice.

Cheating… well, yes, it was cheating.

But even if Ash complained later, she could brush it off by saying that beasts in the forest don’t follow rules—it was that kind of ambiguous cheating.

Silvia slowly twisted her waist, pulling her ice-holding arm backward.

Her elbow went further back than her head, and her hand with the ice was slightly above her temple.

She slowly pulled her waist, tilting her upper body slightly upward.

In the distance, Ash was earnestly fleeing.

Calm down.

Don’t throw with all your might.

Ash.

He’s running hard.

I fixed those legs.

Holy power, I used this sacred power meant to defeat the Demon King to save you.

It’s because of my help that you can walk and run like that.

So.

Stop running away.

“Don’t run away from me!”

Silvia’s arm whipped around.

Simultaneously, a chilling sound of air being cut reached Silvia’s ears.

“Ah, no.”

The transparent ice pieces flew so fast they left white streaks in their wake.

A little harder than she had intended.

“No! Ash!”

Silvia ran frantically toward Ash.

As if trying to catch the ice she had thrown.

But the ice was already almost at the back of Ash’s head.

Time seemed to slow down.

No, Silvia’s thoughts were racing.

Damn it, of all places, the head.

If he got hit in the head, especially the back of the head, with something like that, there was no telling what would happen.

Fuck, why did I throw so hard?

Idiot, no matter how urgent, I should have aimed lower!

What should I do?

What can I do?

Silvia looked at Ash with a frantic expression.

At that moment, Ash’s body seemed to flash with light.

“…Ash?”

A flame-wrapped fox instantly enveloped Ash with its tail, burning brightly and swallowing the ice.

The fox was large enough to completely envelop Ash with room to spare.

As if protecting Ash from Silvia, it completely covered him with its thick tail.

Silvia stared blankly at the sight.

Ash did the same.

“…So it was a fox.”

Ash murmured.

# *

It wasn’t something to dismiss as ‘just melting one piece of ice.’

I was truly surprised by his ingenuity in applying Tumble.

The giant fire fox from earlier was clearly prepared in advance while he was running away, with spells to increase the fire’s size.

I have to acknowledge it now.

Ash has changed in just this one week.

Of course, passing this test doesn’t mean he could defeat that bear from before, but at least Ash has proven that with the right mentor, reaching that level isn’t impossible.

And that mentor was me, Silvia.

In the end, I didn’t cultivate his magical skills but his instantaneous judgment and reflexes.

The talent to survive, to fight.

Silvia pondered.

Should I be happy that Ash is getting stronger, ensuring he won’t die in this forest?

Should I just watch as the possibility of him leaving me increases?

Can’t I stop Ash?

Silvia stood still, unable to sort out her confused emotions.

The three pieces of ice she had just thrown at Ash.

If Ash hadn’t blocked those bullets, something terrible would have happened, that much was clear.

They had such a fatal speed and force.

Due to a momentary emotion, they carried more strength than Silvia had intended.

Of course, they wouldn’t have pierced through his head, but they would have at least made him collapse with blood flowing from his head.

And the human body could die from such an impact.

“…I almost killed him.”

Silvia covered her mouth.

The area around her red pupils became bloodshot with red veins.

“I… Ash…”

I almost killed Ash.

Because I didn’t want to lose him, I almost lost him forever.

And in the end, Ash’s growth, which she had tried to prevent, saved him.

It saved Ash from Silvia.

Ha, the forest is dangerous? The bear is dangerous?

No.

“It’s me…”

In this forest, the most dangerous being to Ash was her.

A being who could accidentally kill Ash.

A being Ash would let his guard down around.

A human contemplating whether to cut off Ash’s legs.

“…Ha, aha…”

Silvia gasped for breath as she looked up at the fox’s face gazing down at her.

Her own self, who had almost killed Ash just now, was so chilling and horrifying.

The gaze of the large burning fox was directed at her.

The fox was quietly looking down at her, as if wary of Silvia.

The form of magical power, was it?

Ash’s magical power was wary of Silvia.

Silvia murmured as if making an excuse.

“No, no… I didn’t mean to… no… please,”

The fox just quietly looked at Silvia without giving any response.

Only the heat-mixed wind gently pushed her away.

“No… Ah!”

At that moment, the fox disappeared, scattering sparks.

Among the flying sparks in the air, a smiling Ash appeared.

Looking at Ash’s face, tears suddenly welled up.

It wasn’t relief from seeing him unharmed, nor was it sadness from contemplating the tragedy her actions could have caused.

Tears of unknown origin simply flowed quietly.

Meanwhile, Ash, unaware of Silvia’s feelings, just seemed excited.

“You threw three at once, right?”

“…”

“Then there’s only one left, right? Right?”

Ash laughed and jumped around excitedly, completely unaware that he had almost died.

Seeing Ash’s innocent excitement, juxtaposed with the recent situation, Silvia felt a strange fear.

It was like watching a child who, unaware of the dangers, happily suggests walking through an alley full of kidnappers.

Ash suddenly looked toward Silvia and tilted his head.

“Silvia… are you crying?”

Silvia quickly lowered her head.

She didn’t want to show her tears to Ash.

She had already shown him her naked body and even more embarrassing things in her attempts to tease him, so it wasn’t that she was ashamed of showing a tearful expression now.

Rather, what she didn’t want to show wasn’t her crying face but her anxious state after being shocked by what she had almost done.

She hoped Ash would remain unaware of what had just happened to him.

If Ash were to find out that he had almost died just now, how would he look at her?

He would surely fear her more than the forest or the bear.

Silvia feared Ash fearing her.

“…The fire… hurts my… eyes.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my magic would grow this large.”

“…”

“Silvia?”

What do I want to do with Ash?

I’m certain I want to keep him by my side.

I’m certain I don’t want to return to solitude.

Do I want to cut off his legs?

No, I don’t want Ash to get hurt.

Do I want him to become stronger?

No, I don’t want Ash to have the ability to become independent from me.

Then, do I want him to stay as he is?

No, I don’t want Ash to lose his life meaninglessly in this dangerous forest.

“Silvia?”

Silvia felt the confused thoughts in her head floating around, colliding with each other, breaking apart, and scattering in all directions.

It was a confusion that wouldn’t be sorted out in a short time.

What do I want to do with Ash?

What am I to Ash in the first place?

What is Ash to me?

I know very well why I need him, but what reason does Ash have to need me?

Does Ash need me?

I need Ash.

Why must I stay in this forest and endure this pain?

“Silvia, what’s wrong!”

Silvia couldn’t calm her confusion.

She needed time to think.

Silvia threw what she had clutched in her hand at Ash, who was approaching her.

“Whoa!”

Ash instantly released a fire fox from his hand.

The fire fox spun in the air, becoming a wall of fire to block the incoming fragment.

But the fragment penetrated the fox and instantly lodged itself in Ash’s waist.

“Kuk!”

Ash spat out saliva, clutched his side, and collapsed.

As if unable to breathe, Ash’s face, buried in the ground, gasped for breath, scattering sand grains around his mouth.

Ash gritted his teeth, drooled through his teeth, twitched on the ground with his forehead pressed down for a moment, and then completely collapsed.

He had fainted.

In his fading consciousness, he probably wondered why his flames hadn’t melted the ice.

Of course not.

What Silvia had thrown last wasn’t ice but an ordinary stone she had picked up from the ground.

“…I’m sorry, Ash… I just, just needed time to… think…”

Silvia gently embraced the unconscious Ash.

Ash was unconscious with his brow deeply furrowed, drooling.

Silvia stroked his head once and gently smoothed his furrowed brow around his eyes.

Then she wiped away the drool around Ash’s mouth with her thumb.

“I’m sorry…”

Silvia stared at Ash’s face for a long time.

As the surroundings grew quiet, she could more clearly understand how strange her current state was.

Her mind was in turmoil.

Having never felt this way before, it was difficult to explain what she was feeling.

When have I felt like this before?

When someone used the sword I had carefully maintained all weekend and left it poorly cleaned?

When I went to place an order at the blacksmith I had been looking forward to, only to find out the original craftsman had passed away the previous week?

When I discovered that a magical beast I thought I had defeated was actually parasitizing my comrade’s body, and I had to cut it down along with his body?

When I realized I was cursed only after killing all the villagers in a town I visited on my way back to the kingdom after defeating the Demon King?

They were all similar but somehow different.

It was a feeling I had never experienced before.

One thing was certain: the confusion Silvia was feeling now was accompanied by an enormous emotional upheaval, just like those memories.

Silvia quietly embraced Ash, rubbing her cheek against his chest, and said:

“You pass… well done, Ash…”

.