Ch.4645. Party Members (9)

# 45. Party Member (9)

“Is that so?…”

I stood up, leaving her to her embarrassment.

As I was putting the book I had been reading back on the shelf and preparing to leave, she asked me.

“Where are you going?”

“Just going to get some fresh air.”

With those words, I left the library.

I took out my phone and checked the time.

‘7:32…’

By now, Rachel would have returned to the dormitory to prepare for tomorrow’s classes at the Academy.

‘She’s probably at the training ground?’

With firm belief that Rachel would be training diligently today as well, I headed to the training ground.

As I approached the training ground, I could feel the surrounding air getting hotter.

‘She’s here, as expected.’

I entered the training ground with a sigh of relief.

-Whoosh!-

An enormous wave of heat hit me as I entered.

In the center of the training ground, Rachel was looking at me with a somewhat stiff expression, still emitting intense heat.

“What brings you here?”

“Just came to see if you’re working hard.”

Rachel pointed her staff at me with a bright expression, different from before.

“Never mind that. Come at me.”

Every time we met at the training ground, Rachel always challenged me to a duel like this.

Though it was somewhat bothersome, I always accepted her challenges.

“I’ll defeat you easily today too.”

Lately, I hadn’t won a single match against anyone else, but I always won against Rachel.

I approached these duels with the purpose of mental recovery, since I always emerged victorious against her.

After finishing a duel with Rachel, I would feel good for a while because of the victory.

“Today I’m going to win.”

Rachel fired the starting signal for our duel while expressing that impossible wish.

Unlike usual, I charged at Rachel without activating any skills.

Despite my unexpected action, Rachel remained calm and activated her magic.

-Whoosh!-

I dodged the magic by turning my body and immediately closed in on Rachel.

In that situation, Rachel chose to use a different skill to create distance between us rather than casting another spell.

Rachel used an agility-type skill to widen the gap between us.

‘Huh?’

I was surprised not by Rachel’s calm judgment but by the skill she had just used to escape.

That skill wasn’t the [Leap] that Academy students typically used.

“When did you learn [Swift]?”

Rachel had used [Swift], the superior version of [Leap], to escape.

[Leap] was a fairly common growth-type skill that almost everyone had, but [Swift], the skill above it, was not.

This was because of the high entry barrier—you had to raise [Leap] to its maximum rank first.

‘Even though growth-type skills rank up quickly… isn’t this too fast?’

Considering the normal growth rate of typical growth-type skills, Rachel’s growth speed seemed extraordinarily fast.

Excluding exceptional cases like myself, she might be the only one who had acquired [Swift] at her current age.

“I learned it yesterday while clearing a dungeon!”

With a loud voice, magic from Rachel’s staff threatened me.

I also used [Swift] to dodge those spells and immediately closed in on her.

Rachel tried to create distance again using [Swift], but my rank was higher, and my basic agility was also superior.

“I win again.”

Finally, I summoned [Blade of Darkness] and pointed it at Rachel’s neck.

Rachel acknowledged her defeat and surrendered without resistance.

“I lost, I lost.”

“You must have been working incredibly hard, already learning [Swift].”

Rachel spoke with a dissatisfied tone.

“You’re much faster than me, honestly, I think you might be faster than Her Highness?”

“Not to that extent.”

I hadn’t thought about comparing her growth rate with mine, partly because I didn’t know what her skills were at my current age and partly because her current abilities were too overwhelming.

Of course, I could tell to some extent without making a direct comparison.

‘I’m probably much slower.’

While my level might be growing faster, her skills were absolutely dominant.

When I denied her statement, Rachel smiled and said.

“You know it well.”

“…Anyway, tomorrow you’ll be facing Her Highness. You know you’re going to lose, but do your best.”

Hearing those words, Rachel asked me with a trembling voice.

“Do you think I can pass?”

She looked like an abandoned puppy, which somehow aroused my sympathy.

“If you do your best, it’s definitely possible.”

“What’s with you? Saying such warm words…?”

I looked directly at Rachel’s slightly reddened face and spoke.

“I just… suddenly felt like saying it. I’m going now. Work hard.”

With those final words, I left the training ground.

Then I returned to the library.

Despite the somewhat late hour of 8 o’clock, the library doors were still open, and there she was with Aelin and Riel, following the librarian and organizing returned books.

‘Everyone’s working hard.’

I ignored Aelin, who gestured for me to come over as soon as she spotted me, and sat at an empty desk to continue reading the book I hadn’t finished earlier.

“No way…”

Aelin approached me, fuming with anger.

“Where did you go?”

“I told you I went to get some fresh air?”

Aelin commanded me in a fierce voice.

“Come here now.”

After hearing that almost threatening command, I asked in a tiny voice.

“Do I… have to help organize those books too?”

“Why are you asking such an obvious question? Come right now.”

Aelin immediately returned to where she had been, and I put the book back where it belonged before following her.

There was a considerable number of professional books and literature books there, and I couldn’t help but sigh helplessly at the dreadful sight.

She heard my sigh and said to me.

“Albert, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

She said that for my sake, but I couldn’t escape from there.

Of course, my conscience was bothering me, but the main reason was something else.

“…Hah…”

Right behind her, I saw two people looking at me with expressions that seemed to say, ‘If you run away, I’ll kill you.’

Seeing Aelin and Riel’s fierce looks, I couldn’t even think about escaping.

“I’ll just help…”

I reluctantly began helping with organizing the books.

I started organizing those numerous books with an expression like I had just eaten something terrible.

‘At least they’re not that heavy.’

I hurried to finish the task as quickly as possible.

As I was diligently carrying books, she approached me.

“By the way, where did you go earlier?”

“I thought Rachel might be training, so I went to the training ground, and she was really there.”

“How was she?”

She was probably asking about Rachel’s current abilities.

After all, she had high expectations for Rachel.

“You can rest assured. Her growth rate is much faster than I expected.”

“That’s good to hear.”

She went to another area to continue organizing books.

Then Riel, who had been eavesdropping on our conversation while hiding behind a bookshelf, revealed herself.

“So you left Her Highness to meet another woman?”

“That’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding.”

Hearing this, Riel advised me as if giving counsel.

“You should confess soon. I think something’s going to happen soon.”

I pondered Riel’s words.

‘Something’s going to happen…’

If it had been someone else, I might have ignored it, but Riel was one of the closest confidants of the imperial family.

She might have more information than me, who knew a future that had now changed significantly.

That cursed demon king’s son might be plotting something again.

‘I definitely need to be careful.’

Originally, the Demon King didn’t make any moves against the Empire until after Aelin graduated from the Academy, except for the Empress assassination incident.

The Kingdom of Babylon had only shown defensive postures even when the Empire attacked first, but things might be different now.

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Make sure you confess before the end of the first semester, got it?”

“That soon?”

The sooner the better for me, but there was no need to rush.

However, after hearing Riel’s words, I couldn’t help but be concerned.

I asked in a voice so quiet that only Riel could hear.

“Is something going to happen around the end of the first semester?”

“It’s just a prediction.”

“What’s going to happen?”

Riel looked at her, who was diligently organizing books, and said.

“I can’t tell you that. If you’re curious, ask Her Highness.”

“That’s a bit…”

There was no certainty she would tell me, and asking such things would only arouse unnecessary suspicion.

‘She must already have a lot of questions…’

No matter how I thought about it, asking her directly didn’t seem right.

While I was deep in thought, Riel made an unexpected proposal.

“Then I’ll tell you if you confess to Her Highness.”

My mind went blank for a moment at Riel’s unexpected suggestion.

Riel saw my dumbfounded expression and gave a mature yet annoying smile.