Ch.339Safety Insensitivity (3)

Despite Kate’s insane regenerative abilities, her basic stamina is no better than an average person’s.

She gasps for breath after just five minutes of running, and even when she recovers with holy power, she quickly becomes winded again. The amazing thing is that she somehow keeps up.

Aerobic exercise isn’t easy. Depending on how you do it, it can become high-intensity—for example, maintaining about 80% of your maximum sprint speed rather than jogging slowly, or accelerating the mana in your body as you go.

This is why skilled practitioners can fight for three days and nights. They don’t go all-out from the beginning, and they have incredibly high endurance along with proper stamina management.

Even I can handle intense exercise all morning without issue, so imagine those who train in martial arts. With holy power too, I’m confident in endurance battles.

Right now, I’m focusing on improving how I distribute my stamina rather than increasing it. I’m starting to reach the limit of just building hardware.

Even with the gods providing abundant holy power, how you use it makes all the difference. Knowing this, I exercise consistently whenever I have time.

“Haa… haa… ugh…”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes… I’m fine.”

It’s unavoidable that Kate, with absolutely no basic stamina, is struggling. She even stubbornly insisted that I shouldn’t hold back for her sake.

Despite her terrible stamina, her insane regenerative abilities somehow allow her to keep up.

But I’m worried. What if she suddenly collapses?

‘Clergy members typically have strong endurance…’

More precisely, this applies to devout religious people. They generally have much stronger endurance than ordinary people.

Those who embrace abstinence and harbor deep faith in their god.

Church knights receive better treatment than regular knights precisely because of their endurance. They silently follow God’s word, no matter how difficult the task.

They can even perform self-healing when injured, making them incredibly versatile.

This is why Kate keeps up despite being out of breath. Normally, a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body, but she’s completely the opposite.

Even with poor stamina, with that mindset, she’ll grow quickly. I’ve experienced it myself, so I can guarantee it.

“Huff… huff…”

But even holy power can’t stop the pouring sweat. Her hair and the workout clothes borrowed from Adelia are completely soaked.

With a healthy mind, building a healthy body is easy. However, one wrong move could damage the body.

Without solid physical stamina as support, mental strength means little. Push too hard, and the body collapses before the mind.

Moreover, it’s hot summer now, not winter, with the scorching sun beating down. We have plenty of time, so it might be better to take a short break here.

I signaled to Adelia, who was running beside me, and she nodded.

“Let’s take a short break here.”

“Haa… yes. Understood.”

At the sweet announcement of a break, Kate looked relieved. No matter how strong her mental fortitude, this is high-intensity training for her.

Iron gets stronger the more it’s hammered, but human mental strength doesn’t work that way. Even small cracks can cause severe aftereffects.

This applies even to Kate, whose regenerative abilities are far superior to others. Even with exceptional regeneration, traces of pain don’t disappear.

‘She has to guard me too…’

While Kate caught her breath, I looked around. Perhaps because we’re exercising so openly, quite a few people are watching us from a distance.

Fortunately, they don’t approach easily. They just whisper from afar or look at us like celebrities, not even thinking of coming near me.

It’s probably not because of the escort but because of the guards patrolling the area. If I go out, the academy naturally gets word of it.

So unless I approach them first, they won’t come to me.

‘It’s uncomfortable, but I’ll get used to this too.’

Humans are adaptable creatures. Though it’s difficult now, in 1-2 weeks, I’ll get used to such gazes.

“Whew… I feel alive now.”

While scanning the surroundings, Kate’s voice caught my attention. Turning my head, I saw quite an explicit scene.

Kate had partially removed her top to cool off. Though she wore a breathable t-shirt underneath, it was stuck to her body with sweat, revealing her figure.

It’s clearly not an erotic scene, but given her figure, I couldn’t help but look. Should I call this a sinful body?

However, due to the holy aura Kate naturally emits, I felt almost no lust. I could just think, “She has a nice figure,” and move on.

“Is it tough?”

“My body is tired, but my mind is clear.”

“Both your mental strength and energy are excellent, Kate. So excellent that they can even cover for your physical body. This is my first time seeing such a case, but if you continue like this, you’ll be fine.”

Adelia handed Kate a water bottle she had prepared in advance and offered advice. She showed no signs of fatigue, just a slight sweat from the heat.

Kate nodded and carefully drank the water. It must be like life-giving water to her right now.

As Adelia said, Kate is a special case. Usually, people train their bodies first and then build mental strength, but she’s doing the exact opposite.

“Tell me anytime if it’s too hard. We’ll rest immediately.”

“No, I don’t want to inconvenience you two…”

“Someone who’s supposed to guard me shouldn’t be struggling with stamina. Understand?”

“…I understand. I’ll have to work hard from now on.”

I’ve given her plenty of motivation. From now on, Kate will probably exercise diligently every weekend like Adelia and me.

Exercise is more motivating when done with others. If I had to do it alone without Adelia, I probably wouldn’t have left the dormitory.

After our break time passed and Kate took one more sip of water,

I smiled gently and said to Kate, “Shall we run again?”

“…Yes.”

Though her expression remained the same, her slightly delayed response suggests she’s still struggling. This kind of pain is hard to get used to.

Seeing her human side, I smiled and started moving my legs.

Adelia followed beside me, and Kate trailed behind, sweating profusely.

‘Honestly, there doesn’t seem to be much danger?’

I glance around while running. People keep their distance during our breaks, but they get closer when we’re running.

The academy is large, but there are many people exercising like me.

So when someone comes running from the opposite direction, I simply avoid them.

Moreover, busy areas aren’t included in my routine. In other words, the probability of demon worshippers attacking is very low.

‘I just need to be careful in crowded places… but wouldn’t it be fine to go quickly?’

Just for a moment. I should visit a store soon to buy manuscript paper.

For safety, I could ask Adelia, but I didn’t want to trouble her.

‘After running for about 30 more minutes…’

Thud-

“Ugh.”

Was I too lost in thought? Or did I fail to notice a stone in the way?

Something caught my foot, and I immediately felt my balance shift forward. At this rate, I’d kiss the ground.

Grip!

But that didn’t happen. As soon as my balance shifted forward, someone grabbed my clothes to prevent me from falling.

Not just one hand, but two. I’m guessing Adelia and Kate caught me simultaneously.

“Are you alright?”

“Are you okay? That startled me.”

Just as I expected. I was surprised that even Kate, who had been struggling, reacted so quickly.

After regaining my balance with their help, I smiled awkwardly. This was a minor mishap caused by my distraction.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about something else.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“Just something.”

I evaded the question, fearing Adelia might scold me if I revealed my thoughts.

Adelia gave me a suspicious look briefly, then placed her hands on her hips and spoke.

“Let’s take a short break now. It’s break time anyway. You agree, Kate?”

“I strongly agree.”

“It seems Kate wants to rest more, doesn’t it?”

“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but due to my inadequacy, I do have such desires.”

Kate’s honest admission made Adelia and me laugh softly.

Just then, a cool breeze blew, helping to cool our heat a little.

While Kate received a water bottle from Adelia, I looked around again. This route is mainly used by exercisers and has few people.

There are almost no buildings, just large trees lining both sides of the walkway. They’re cherry blossom trees, creating a beautiful scenery in spring.

I walked slowly toward a tree, distancing myself slightly from them. It’s not strange that cherry blossoms remind me of Cherry.

‘Come to think of it, were these cherry trees brought from Cherry’s family?’

That’s probably the case. Such large cherry blossom trees only grow in Cherry’s family, the Roseberry household.

While others were resting, I looked around. Occasionally, people walking or exercising would spot me and be startled.

I gave them a light nod, which made them flustered. It’s quite an amusing situation that I might enjoy soon.

As our peaceful break time passed and we prepared to run again…

“Ugh…!!”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a groan came from ahead. As I mentioned, this is a kind of walkway.

It’s much less crowded than busy areas, with only people exercising or walking. Naturally, even small sounds seem relatively loud.

When I turned toward the sound, I was shocked. It was what you’d call an unexpected situation.

Thud!

A man collapsed forward, clutching his chest. There wasn’t even a stagger. He just fell powerlessly.

“Kyaaah!”

“S-someone…!”

“Clergy! Is there a clergy member?!”

Various reactions erupted as someone suddenly collapsed. Everyone was too confused to act.

As soon as I saw the man fall, I immediately looked at Kate. She had already adopted a serious expression and approached the man.

It appears to be a heart attack, but with a clergy member present—especially Kate, who is a cardinal—recovery should be possible without difficulty.

I’m curious, though. How do they handle heart attacks here? Do they use holy power for recovery?

As I took a step forward,

Whooosh-

The sound of something cutting sharply through the air reached my ears.