Now, Patient. Say ‘Ah’ and Tell Me If It Hurts~

My hands are tingling. Moreover, my arms, which had been endlessly circulating magic, wouldn’t move properly.

From the first martial arts class, following Yujia’s orders, I had always been wearing lead plates weighing up to 500kg, but I had long since removed them all. Yet my mind was dizzy from the weight, as if all those plates were still attached to my arms.

After clapping continuously for 2 hours straight, we ate lunch and then repeated the same training for another 2 hours.

Moreover, I had to pay attention to everything – swinging the sword, throwing the sword, flowing magic, and resonating with the magic in the air before clapping. It was truly a wonder that my arms could move at all.

“Ugh…”

“My arms, my arms hurt…”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to move properly until tomorrow…”

That’s why Arin groaned while clutching her aching arms, and Kana and Riana beside her similarly gripped their arms while moaning.

Muscle pain was probably guaranteed when they woke up tomorrow morning.

It would have been one thing if they had succeeded after all this pain, but they hadn’t even grasped a clue, let alone succeeded, so it felt like their mood was plummeting.

But before they could despair at not even grasping a clue, Arin raised her head at the voice she heard.

“Good work, everyone. Get proper rest today. You’ll need it to train again in tomorrow’s class.”

“And don’t be too discouraged if you didn’t succeed. It’s originally such a difficult technique that it takes at least a month of learning to barely grasp a clue!”

Aria and Yujia each addressed the children in their usual indifferent and cheerful voices respectively.

The class today must have been quite dreadful, as the surrounding children let out sighs at hearing there would be the same class tomorrow, but amidst that, Arin breathed life into her tired eyes.

The reason Arin could become this strong was not only due to her talent, but even more so because of her tenacious effort rivaling that of an immortal.

Because she was more confident than anyone in her efforts to keep challenging without giving up, Arin tried to boost the vitality in her body that was losing strength.

“Ah, and Arin, Kana.”

“Yes?”

“Us?”

However, just as Arin was trying to gather her resolve, she quickly raised her head at Aria’s call for her and Kana.

Naturally, the surrounding gazes focused on the two of them, as they were the only ones called out among the many students.

As both Arin and Kana began to stiffen their bodies at those quite burdensome gazes, Aria continued her briefly interrupted words with a wave of her hand.

“You two come to my professor’s office after resting for a while. I have something to talk about.”

“Alright! Then good work everyone, dismissed!!!”

As soon as Aria finished speaking, she turned around and walked towards the main building with Morgan, followed by Yujia announcing the end of class.

At her shout of dismissal, the children began to move chaotically out of the main sports field one by one.

With some gazes still lingering on Arin and Kana, Riana, who was beside the two, asked with an expression that seemed to say ‘surely not’:

“Could it be… did you two do something wrong?”

“Well…”

“I have no idea at all…”

At Riana’s truly reasonable question, Arin and Kana trailed off in their answers simultaneously.

Since they were both living faithfully according to the academy’s rules from the start, they had no idea at all, but because of that, they were rather very worried that they might have done something wrong without knowing.

After all, unknown wrongs are usually scarier than known ones.

“But still, since we can’t think of anything…”

However, it was a waste of time to think about wrongs they couldn’t even imagine. Rather, it was best to go as quickly as possible so as not to keep Aria, who would arrive first, waiting.

“Kana, let’s go for now.”

“Okay… though I’m scared.”

Arin led Kana, who was biting her nails beside her, towards the main building, and all Arin could do was pray that whatever unknown wrong she had committed wasn’t a big one.

Truly with all her heart.

---

It didn’t take long to reach Aria’s professor’s office located on the 3rd floor of the main building.

At most, it took about 10 minutes. Arin paused briefly in front of the office door, which she had reached in too little time to even calm her trembling heart, but soon she grasped her unstable mind and lightly knocked.

Knock knock, the rhythmic knocking sound echoed. Not long after it rang out, Aria’s voice was heard from inside.

[Come in.]

The sound of permission came in a voice no different from usual. At that permission, Arin carefully placed her hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door.

“Excuse us.”

“Ex-Excuse us…”

Creeeeak───

Was it their imagination? Arin and Kana entered the office, opening the door by turning the doorknob that seemed to open very noisily, and greeted in voices that were barely audible as they stepped inside.

Upon entering the office, the first thing they saw was a room of moderate size, about 50 square meters, and bookshelves lined up filling most of the room.

The bookshelves were filled with books that looked difficult at a glance, documents that seemed to organize something, and sharp real swords, and the scent characteristic of well-used old books stimulated their noses.

Next, they saw Vice Homeroom Teacher Isolde sitting on her staff with her legs crossed, reading a book in front of those bookshelves, and finally, when they turned their heads to the front, there was Aria sitting at her desk, polishing her sword.

To say it again, there was Aria polishing her sword.

“Eek?!”

“What are you so scared of? Hurry up and sit down there.”

At the chilling sight of her polishing the sword, Kana reflexively got scared and hiccupped, but Aria sighed and pointed to two chairs in front of her.

Chairs filled with cushions that looked fluffy, as if prepared in advance, came into view. At the instruction to sit in those chairs, Arin approached the chairs with Kana and, just before sitting down, bowed to Isolde who was floating while sitting on her staff.

“Um… Hello, Assistant Isolde.”

“Mm, hello.”

She glanced over, looking at Arin, and answered halfheartedly.

Arin had wondered if it might be different in an individual setting, but seeing that still unapproachable cold appearance, she sighed and sat down next to Kana, who was already seated.

Plop──

As she sat in the chair, she felt the fluffy sensation on her back, just as she had imagined beforehand. Arin showed a relaxed smile at that pleasant feeling, and it was the same for Kana sitting beside her.

And Aria, looking at Arin and Kana like that, let out a small laugh and then sheathed the sword she had been polishing.

“You both seem quite tense, but there’s no need to be particularly nervous. I didn’t call you because you did something wrong.”

“R-Really?”

“Really, really?”

“Of course. I don’t lie, so believe me.”

Aria’s words as she sheathed her sword. At those words, Arin and Kana simultaneously straightened their backs and asked again.

Judging by Aria’s appearance immediately answering their quick inquiries, it really didn’t seem to be a lie.

At Aria’s answer, Arin was truly relieved that she hadn’t done anything wrong, and at the same time, as her worry cleared, she put the question that arose into words.

Or more precisely, she was about to put it into words.

“Then why did you…”

“Then you’re curious why I called you, right? It’s simple. Because I forgot due to the audience with His Majesty the King yesterday, and busy matters the day before. It’s to finish the things I forgot to handle.”

Aria preemptively explained the reason before Arin could even voice her question.

However, since she hadn’t properly explained what the ‘forgotten matter’ was yet, Arin and Kana tilted their heads, and Aria seemed to ponder for a moment before letting out a short sigh and opening her mouth.

“You two. Do you remember the demons you saw with Yeonhwa a month ago?”

“A month ago…”

“Do you mean the demons that were killed by Master Yeonhwa at that restaurant back then?”

“Yes, those ones.”

The story of the demons from a month ago that Aria brought up.

And for Arin and Kana, besides the Demon King they saw on Sky Island a few days ago, the only demon-related incident was the demons they saw behind the restaurant a month ago.

It was an incident where demons infiltrated the academy, so they remembered being asked to keep it confidential.

The reason Aria knew about this, even though Yeonhwa was also asked to keep it confidential, was probably because she had Mira the Dean’s trust.

Although the reality was completely different, Arin naturally thought and assumed so, and she couldn’t help but be shocked by what Aria said next.

“Demon parasites that came out of the demon crystals those guys were carrying are now implanted in your bodies. We only noticed after the Sky Island incident.”

“What?! Demon parasites…! What do you mean!”

“S-Such things are implanted in our bodies?”

Demon parasites that came out of the demon crystals the demons were carrying are implanted in their bodies.

At Aria’s words, Arin and Kana simultaneously raised their eyebrows and shouted without anyone going first.

Although Arin and Kana didn’t properly know what demon parasites were, just the word ‘parasite’ alone was enough to cause considerable discomfort.

And Aria’s following words intensified that discomfort.

“What demon parasites do when implanted is simple. They create spies that move using your eyes and ears.”

“That’s terrible… Don’t tell me we’ve been acting as spies all this time…”

“Then have the demons been using us to get information about the academy…?”

“I don’t know what kind of bastard created these demon parasites, but they must be truly terrible creatures. But don’t worry. Even if you were briefly demon spies, the information that got through is so little it’s not even dust. So there’s no need to feel guilty. Rather, the guilt should be felt by the bastard who created such filthy things.”

Aria firmly assured them of their innocence while chewing out and cursing the demons who created such things.

Arin and Kana almost cried unknowingly at her considerate appearance, but the next moment they reflexively turned their heads at the sound of a collision from behind.

Thud──!

“Um… Assistant Isolde? Are you alright?”

“It looks like you hit your head on the bookshelf…”

“Ugh… I-I’m fine. It was just a mistake. Don’t mind it.”

When they turned their heads, the owner of the collision sound was none other than Isolde.

Arin and Kana expressed their concern to Isolde, who was clutching her throbbing forehead as if she had hit her head on the bookshelf, but Isolde waved her hand while twitching her eyes.

Then Isolde’s appearance as she rose again from the floor she had fallen to looked somehow awkward, but there was no time to feel that awkwardness now.

Because Aria had already stood up from her seat and was drawing the sword she had sheathed.

Shing──

“So now to the main point, I’m going to remove all the demon parasites implanted in your bodies right now. It might hurt a little, but at most it will feel like getting a shot, so don’t worry.”

“Um… Professor Aria. Saying that while drawing a sword isn’t very convincing…”

“Are you really going to use that to remove them…?”

Arin shook her head along with Kana as they stood up from their seats, trying to dissuade Aria who was approaching, but Aria’s steps didn’t stop.

One step, then another step.

As it was originally a short distance within arm’s reach, that distance was closed in an instant, and Aria’s sword rushed towards Arin and Kana, who hadn’t even managed to stand up from their chairs yet.

The sensation of the blade touching the back of their necks without being able to resist. Along with it, Aria’s gentle voice was heard.

“If it hurts, let me know.”

Because it will be over the moment you say it hurts.