episode_0012

Glenn stopped explaining and looked around. This plain was definitely a wet field. Otherwise, such vibrant grass wouldn’t have grown in abundance. Furthermore, the monsters were practically ‘left alone’ to roam freely for training purposes, so the grass was in its natural form. In other words, there was wet mud here and there, and it was natural for wet dirt to stick to your clothes when you sat on the ground. It would be even worse if it rained.

Glenn reached out to find some suitable dirt. It was sticky. Soon, a ball of clay was formed. He returned to the saintess. The mud had a slight stench. Oh, this would not be good for a woman. However, the saintess did not frown.

“Well…Master? Why did you bring that mud?”

“It’s simple. It’s essential for training to gain insight, footwork, and practical experience. Here’s how. ”

First, Milishia forms a shield with the widest distance centered on herself. Glenn moves a considerable distance away from her (about 18m). Glenn throws a mud ball. Milishia waits still, and when the mud ball touches her shield, she moves left, right, or backward. The distance of the shield is gradually shortened as she becomes accustomed to training, and ultimately, it is formed at a distance of about 1cm from the skin and trained.

It was a training session to develop footwork and awareness, and to overcome the fear of attacks coming from a distance.

‘Originally, it was made of stone. And I didn’t even have a shield.’

Yeah, it was hell. Those were the times.

‘It hurts when you get hit.’

It wasn’t something that could just end with “I’m sick.”

As a child, I had to go through a lot of twists and turns trying to dodge the stones my teacher threw at me at the perfect moment. Bruises all over my body were a daily occurrence, and if my teacher was great, I almost got hit in the head several times.

Even, since Glenn couldn’t use something like a shield, he had to judge for himself and avoid it whenever he came into the street.

Compared to that, he wanted to say that this wasn’t even a massage, but Glenn held back. Then he first demonstrated basic footwork, footwork used in fighting. After a little practice, Milicia was able to follow Glenn’s footwork to some extent.

It would be surprising to see such rapid progress from a disciple, but in fact, it was not strange. She had a lot of combat experience. Although it was not direct combat, she had been involved in many fights, so it would be natural for her to quickly become accustomed to these movements.

“Okay. Now that I’ve gotten used to the footwork, let’s get started.”

“Yes, Master. But, how many times should I practice?”

“Hmm. You have to practice moving left, right, and back, so you have to do it in a balanced way. ”

How many times did I do it back then? I just remember doing it from sunrise to sunset. I woke up in the morning, ate, practiced, had lunch, practiced, had dinner, and went to sleep. The number didn’t mean anything.

Glenn, who had been lost in thought, realized that Milishia was waiting patiently, and cleared his throat.

“First, 50 times to the left, 50 times to the right, and 50 times to the back. Okay, then…”

“No.”

“Huh?”

The saintess shook her head. What? You suddenly don’t like the training method? However, the words that came out of her mouth were different from what he had expected.

“Too little. You need to move at least 200 times to the left, 200 times to the right, and 200 times to the back. ”

Oh, you’re pointing out that the amount of training is insufficient. Glenn realized that he had underestimated Militia’s determination more than he had thought. Was I being too considerate? However, the saint’s proposal was also unrealistic.

“If you do that, you’ll have to stay up all night. It’s impossible.”

“But time is running out. If I don’t do that…”

“If you get sick or injured before that, everything will be in vain, right? Well, it’s true that there’s not enough time… Start with 100 left, 100 right, and 100 backwards, and increase from tomorrow. ”

“Okay.”

Although slightly dissatisfied, Milishia agreed.

Wow, what an enthusiastic disciple. I wasn’t like that.

Thinking back on his past, when he had wondered when the damn sun would finally set, Glenn slowly distanced himself from Milicia.

“Okay, let’s get started. First, the left side. Capture the moment when the mud touches the shield and move. ”

‘Take it slow. You have to realize that you’re a beginner. Take it slow!’

In fact, this was Glenn’s biggest challenge as a teacher. Strength control. If this is done wrong, it will be difficult to control the difficulty of the training. Thinking back to the hundreds and thousands of poses his teacher had thrown, Glenn threw a clay ball at the saintess. And immediately regretted it.

‘Oops. It’s too fast.’

Before she could even think about avoiding it, the mud ball hit the saint’s shield directly. Looking away from the dumbfounded Milicia, Glenn sighed inwardly.

‘The one who must rule first is the teacher himself. As expected.’

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“Ah…”

Milicia came to her senses when the cold evening air caressed her cheeks. Only then was she able to recognize her situation. Her whole body felt heavy and weak. It was a feeling of exhaustion that she hadn’t felt in a long time, different from a cold or a body aches. It was the feeling she had when she rested after moving around the territory of the Demon Tribe as part of a group of warriors.

Thump thump. The sound of footsteps could be heard. Chirp chirp. The sound of insects that were active at night could be heard. The cold wind touched Milishia’s beautiful hair and cheeks again. It was a pleasant wind. Like this, moving my feet, closing my eyes and admiring the evening breeze, my heart felt so at ease.

‘Wait a minute. Are you sure I’m walking right now?’

Only then did the saint realize her situation.

With both eyes closed, all the strength left my body, and the sound of plodding footsteps could be heard, but I felt no strain on my body at all. Yes. Unless I had the ability to float myself unconsciously, someone was carrying me right now.

As soon as I realized it, my eyes opened on their own.

The first thing you see is the bushy hair. And underneath it are the impressive large-lensed glasses. Ah, Master. It was Glenn.

No way, no way! Milishia came to her senses. She was fully aware of her situation. Glenn was now walking with her in his arms. Probably towards her mansion.

Milicia’s memories began to come back to her. Glenn, who was acting as her teacher, had said that he threw it too fast and would slow it down a bit, but Milicia insisted and threw it anyway.

After failing dozens of times, Milishia finally got used to it and managed to dodge it perfectly the last few times. Then, he collapsed from exhaustion. He even lost consciousness.

Ah, what a nuisance. Milishia tried to raise her voice. She wanted to apologize and ask him to come down quickly. Frustration, shame, and regret were all mixed up in her head.

Then, by chance, I happened to see it.

His gaze was not at himself, but somewhere far away. I ended up seeing those two red eyes inside the lenses.

Since ancient times, red eyes were quite rare in the Southern Kingdom. In particular, those born with red eyes like rubies were extremely rare. And Glen’s two eyes, overlapping with the sunset, burned like beautiful rubies. It was so impressive that it left a strong impression in my memory.

It was as if the eyes of a warrior from a myth were like that. An old myth came to the saint’s mind.

It was a story about a warrior with red eyes who fought a dragon for seven days and nights and eventually protected the kingdom. Will Glenn also fight with his life on the line like that warrior one day? Will someone this strong end up decorating a page of mythology?

“Ah, are you awake, Milishia? ”

“Ah, that, that…”

I must have been staring at her for too long. Glenn immediately saw through her mood and smiled weakly. It was a slightly self-deprecating smile. At that moment, Milishia realized her situation once again. Once again, she groaned and the blood rushed to her face.

“How do I…”

The voice that was barely able to be squeezed out seemed to be crawling out. However, Glenn answered with a sly smile. Without stopping his pace.

“After you finally dodged my throw, you collapsed, probably because you lost your strength. After that, you still couldn’t come to your senses, so I ended up carrying you back in my arms. I feel so sorry. ”

Glenn’s speech returned to his usual polite tone. Since today’s training was over, it felt like the treatment of him as a disciple was over. Now that I think about it, it was strange. Glenn was really different from other adventurers. He may not have been very polite, but he was surprisingly polite and skilled at meals, and his polite speech made me feel like he had been trained by a nobleman. No, more than that…

“Oh, no. Rather, I’m sorry. Uh, uh…if you could give me the…”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, yes! I’m really okay. I’m much better now.”

“Okay, then I understand. I’ll take it slow. But you’ve been doing a lot of vigorous movements, so you have to be careful. Seriously. ”

So, Glenn slowly lowered Milicia from his arms to the ground. Since Milicia was taller than Glenn, he only had to lean forward a little to get Milicia’s legs to touch the ground.

Milicia stood on the ground, strengthening her body. Oh. Her body screamed here and there. It felt like her muscles were being torn apart. However, it wasn’t to the point where she couldn’t walk.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. It hurts a little, but… I can bear it.”

“I see. That’s fortunate. You came to your senses before you got to the main gate. If you hadn’t come to your senses even after you got to the main gate…No, you didn’t. ”

Glenn spoke softly, then closed his mouth. Milishia tilted her head for a moment. Why did he suddenly stop talking? However, she soon realized his intention and blushed.

Yes. There would be chaos. Just hanging out with a saint was enough to be a topic of conversation in the first place, but if you showed up with a saint in your arms dressed appropriately for exercise, it might be rumored throughout the capital for a month. I really wanted to avoid such an embarrassing situation.

“But Saint, how was your training today?”

“Oh, yes?”

After a moment of silence, Glenn opened his mouth again. The question that came out was unexpected. Glenn explained why he had asked such a strange question.

“Coincidentally, this is my first time teaching someone. Even after my adventurer career, I was too busy taking care of myself to teach others, so I didn’t know how to teach at all. So before helping the saint this time, I studied many books (I studied only one) and consulted the training methods put together by highly skilled experts (the master gave me a rough idea) to prepare for today’s training. Please give me your honest impressions. ”

“Oh, I see.”

Seriously, this person…

Milicia, while worrying, could understand her own emotions that changed from moment to moment in her evaluation of Glenn. She remembered the monks’ experienced advice that people’s hearts, especially her own, sometimes move in directions that were difficult to understand. That was the case now. The man in front of her, and herself, were like that.

Working as a saint, I met many people. Men, women, races, demons, etc. Among them, the most consistent attitude was mostly shown by men. Consistent but different in direction, contradictory emotions, but their goals were similar. To win the favor of the saint or to put the saint in one’s grasp.

However, as a saint, she was in a position where she had to show God’s mercy, so she endured by considering such gazes and emotions as human. There were not many authors like Opperspelle, and she was able to endure because she was protected firmly by noble people such as bishops and monks, and warriors.

And now that all those barriers were gone, the man in front of him was effectively presented with a golden opportunity that he would never have again.

Excluding the butler Douglas, he was in the best position to be closest to the saint, talk to her a lot, and build a close and friendly relationship with her. It was an opportunity that was chosen by the saint, unlike Opperspelle, which tried to force a relationship, so it was all the more valuable.

But this man was so unique. Of course, his appearance was like that, but his attitude was special. He looked timid and shaky, but the stories he spoke and the way he worked were serious, cool, and considerate. It was an amazing attitude. Of course, there were many men who were considerate and kind to her. The only problem was that most of them were actions with dark intentions.

Yes, Milicia couldn’t help but pay attention to that part.

“I think Glenn is a very kind person when it comes to training.”

“Uh, yeah, yeah?”

To Glenn, who was asking for the saint’s answer with a calm face, Milishia gave a rather honest answer. Yes, it was her honest impression.

He was kind. In every aspect, he reflected her opinion in every training he prepared. He didn’t necessarily reflect her opinion, and Milicia was impressed by that.

Oh, and just now, the way he looked extremely flustered and dumbfounded at the words he had thrown was impressive. No, to put it more bluntly…

It was cute.

“Hahaha. I think it was kind of you to try to listen to my unreasonable requests and not just ignore them, but also to give me advice on every little detail of my training and try to help me. In particular, what I liked the most was how you struggled to balance my physical strength and my future training schedule.“

“Ah, uh, I see. Yes… From now on, uh, uh, I will do that. No, no! From now on, that is… From now on, I will maintain balance through conversations with the Saintess during all training courses. I heard that as the disciple is ready, the master must also be ready. In the, book… No, no! From my former master. ”

Oh, I look so panicked and broken today.

The saint barely managed to suppress her laughter, enjoying Glenn’s embarrassed look. She felt something fulfilling in her heart. Her legs still felt heavy, and her joints creaked here and there.

Even though she had rested a bit, her gait was similar to crawling, as if her stamina had completely depleted. However, thanks to Glenn, a man who adjusted to her slow walking and showed her amusing reactions, it seemed like all the pain had gone away. It would still be incredibly painful tomorrow morning, though.

“Anyway! Ahem, before you go to bed today, you should definitely apply the painkiller you prepared. If you apply it before you go to bed, it will hurt less when you wake up in the morning. ”

“Yes, Master. I will definitely do that.”

“Oh, since training is over today…you can just talk like you normally do.”

“Oh my, Glen, do you like being called by your name?”

“Uh, that, uh, no… No, it’s not that I don’t like it… Well, once the training process is over, I feel like that’s where the relationship between teacher and student ends… Then, uh, in a horizontal? Equal? Anyway, in that position… So, as a normal relationship between a man and a woman… What am I talking about? ”

It seemed that the aftereffects of the collapse a little while ago still remained. Still, Glenn couldn’t come to his senses as he showed cute behavior in Milishia’s eyes. Ah, now that I look at it, Glenn is a little shorter than me. Maybe that’s why he feels even cuter.

“Hehe, is it okay if I call you Glenn after training from now on?”

“Uh…uh…yeah…do as you wish.”

He gave in. Glenn answered with a slumped face, as if he had given up. In fact, his facial expression was not perfectly visible because of the glasses with lenses, and the evening glow was almost gone, so it was even more so. However, the saint’s insight made it easy to gauge his expression. He was truly a unique person. This was probably the first time since the warrior that I had interacted with such a unique person, or man.

“Okay. Then, Glenn, could you tell us what kind of training you did with your past master? If we share information and think about it together, it might help us in our future training. ”

“Oh, yeah. Maybe so. Okay. When I was 12…”

And, while happily talking about how Glenn had suffered under his master, the two passed through the eastern gate of the capital, and eventually parted ways and returned to their respective homes. And while spending time like this, this was what was on Glenn’s mind.

‘One mud troll, two, three, four, five, six… one hundred and twenty-five… two thousand eight hundred and forty-four… three thousand nine hundred…’

It was the first day of what would be a 50-day period, with a man who maintained his sanity while being reminded of a dirty mud troll and a saintess smiling softly next to such a man.