episode_0038

“What the heck, where did that devil bastard go?”

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In stark contrast to the bittersweet love story that Ayla and Liliane were having, the atmosphere in the men’s room was, quite naturally, billions of years removed from that. In fact, it may be only Mathias who feels uncomfortable.

Mathias had a special ability that he was aware of. It wasn’t something so special or specific that it could be called an ability, but since the results were reasonable enough to be called a simple ‘feeling’, it might be okay to call it an ability. And the only person who knew about it was Mathias himself.

In a way, you could call it a sense of crisis. Although I couldn’t tell exactly what elements were dangerous and in what way, I instinctively felt fear toward an opponent who was ‘on a different level’.

Before entering the Academy, Mathias was actually a weakling who could fight a girl who had just taken up a sword, and although he was angry, he understood it well. So, if we look at it as simple fighting ability or physical ability, there are almost no targets that Mathias does not feel fear of, but Mathias’ ‘sensation’ was quite selective about his targets.

For example, most of the students in the knightly classes were clearly stronger than Mathias, but Mathias felt no fear at all. On the contrary, he sometimes felt fear even towards students who seemed to have nothing to do with swordsmanship.

Coming to the Academy, Mathias began to think that perhaps his abilities, which were vaguely tangible, were related to magic.

If you think about it that way, it’s probably natural that Mathias instinctively felt a great fear of Liliane, or Leah. It’s said that a considerable amount of magical power is constantly being used to activate the mask, but Mathias’ instinct must have recognized the size of the ‘vessel’.

And of course, that was also the case for Yugram. Yugram, who Leah introduced as a ‘healer’, had to be a noble due to the nature of his job. That alone would have been scary, but of course, because he possessed such great magical power, Mathias had a hard time looking at him straight, and now they were even sharing a room!

“Do you really need treatment?”

“..Huh!?”

For a moment, it was inevitable that Mathias would let out a silly noise in surprise.

Treatment. Mathias’ hand stroked the thigh that had not yet healed. Since simple first aid had already been completed, Mathias naturally knew that what Yugram was talking about was magical treatment.

Of course, Mathias had no intention of doing so on his own initiative─but he didn’t know how to explain that to others.

After meeting Leah, did I unconsciously let my mind go as I felt a sense of accomplishment as if I was sailing smoothly with the wind in my sails?

Even though you’ve heard countless times in class and from Leah that swordsmanship is ultimately about killing people, you still haven’t come to your senses after actually cutting someone down?

Normally, he would have died if he had lost consciousness on the battlefield, but was he saved by Ayla?

There were countless reasons and regrets for this and that, which made Mathias think that he should not easily heal this stupid injury, and Mathias mumbled because it was difficult to put it into words.

However, Yugram seemed to already know what the young prosecutor was thinking, and continued to speak to Mathias, who remained silent as if he had not been waiting for an answer from the beginning.

“You know for sure that you are not fit for the test.”

“If you were just a friend of the young lady, I wouldn’t have said anything special. You just need to be friendly with each other during your time at the academy with moderate skills, and then live your own lives later.”

“But you must be vaguely aware of it in your heart. The young lady is thinking of you as a vassal, and you are showing the same tendency.

Gashin—the sound of that word made Mathias’ heart race.

It was probably natural that Leah was a noblewoman, as most of the students in the Academy would think so, but it had a different meaning when her closest confidant, the attending physician, directly mentioned it.

Am I trying to serve the princess as my master? But Mathias could not confirm the question.

“If you become the young lady’s vassal, it will probably be much more unfortunate and dangerous than the ordinary academy life. Not only will you have to kill people like today, but there will also be many instances where you will be in danger of dying. Are you prepared?”

“After graduating normally, you become a knight of a decent family and achieve stable happiness. You are ready to give up that future and risk your life for an uncertain and dangerous choice.”

Mathias was unable to respond to Yugram’s words, which were spoken in a thoroughly businesslike manner as if he had no personal feelings at all.

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Even though she might have been curious about me not taking off my mask when I was bathing or sleeping, Ayla never asked me about it. As expected, she was a kind and gentle girl by nature.

The bed was very comfortable, but I still had the worst morning ever due to the excruciating pain of the curse that forced me to wake up. After getting dressed appropriately, I left the room. Yugram was waiting outside the door.

“..”

Maybe it was because of the conversation I had with Ayla yesterday, but for some reason I was a little worried about Yugram.

Of course, in Ayla’s eyes, Yugram would be an incredibly handsome man, and being a healer is a job that only the elite among the chosen ones can do, and since I have an extremely high level of trust in Yugram, and I don’t want to be separated from Yugram (Ayla’s illusion), and I resent Ayla’s suspicion of Yugram (this is also Ayla’s illusion), it is understandable to think that way.

But when you look at it objectively, isn’t it obvious that Yu Gram is nothing more than a pitiful old bachelor who missed his prime more than ten years ago, and that he has no right to take a young lady with such a bright future ahead of her like me? If Yu Gram were about ten years younger, it might be different.

Wait, if I think about it that way, is Yu Gram, who is my servant, destined to never get married and grow old and die alone? For some reason, I feel sorry for Yu Gram.

As I was thinking about that, Yugram’s expression slowly began to change as if he had sensed something, so I turned my head away as if nothing had happened. When I went down the stairs and arrived at the lobby, Mathias and Ayla were already sitting there.

After exchanging greetings and sitting down in the empty seats, I noticed that their hair was still slightly wet.

“Did you two just wake up? Your heads aren’t dry yet.”

“No? While the princess was sleeping for a long time, we woke up a long time ago and came back after sweating a little.”

“Even if it’s Ayla, what about Mathias?”

“Of course, the cutie sat nicely and trained only the upper body. I thought about that too.”

Ayla giggled and was already eating the fruit that the waitress had thoughtfully brought her. Even so, even if you only exercise your upper body, it’s not like your legs won’t be affected at all. I wonder if Mathias will be okay.

“Huh? So the two of you trained together for a while, then you came back and I slept while Ayla washed up and went out? ”

“Huh? Hey, even so, the princess would have woken up at that point. We just went to wash off some sweat there, since there was a river nearby. ”

“Aha. Then that makes sense.”

I put some fruit in my mouth and it tasted quite good.

But wait, what?

“..Did you two wash together in the river?”

I stared at Ayla and Mathias in shock, though it didn’t show on my face. Could it be that she had confirmed that he was a man not only by ‘touching’ him but also by ‘looking at him’?

“I didn’t mind, but the cutie was embarrassed.”

Ayla giggled and poked Mathias in the ribs, causing Mathias to squirm in pain.

“No, no… no. Ayla. Did I hear you correctly? You said it’s okay for me to wash with Mathias? ”

“Why is the princess acting so crazy? How can you do that when you’re a comrade who risked your life to fight?”

Well, if we saved each other’s lives, then it’s okay to just say, “What’s wrong with just seeing naked bodies?” and then let it go, but it makes sense…

“What was all this caution and caution about men that Ayla kept preaching to me about yesterday?”

“Princess, what are you talking about? Mathias hasn’t even had his coming of age ceremony yet, and I’m not cute like a princess.”

“No..”

For a moment, I was speechless.

Is it possible that Ayla knows from her education that ‘adult males’ are dangerous, but doesn’t know exactly ‘why’ it’s dangerous? If she knew, she would know that coming of age ceremonies aren’t particularly important.

“..I think Mathias is like that, but I think Ayla is just an ordinary beauty.”

“Phehe. Princess, who would like a woman like me who is tall like a pole and swings a sword like a servant? A woman should be small and cute enough to make you want to protect her like a princess. ”

Ayla laughed, saying something that sounded like a slightly unpleasant old man. I was only a little concerned about my short height..! Ayla probably thought it was an advantage, so I couldn’t help but get angry.

“I think Ayla is tall for her age, but if she doesn’t grow any more, she’s not that tall after all. What do you think, Mathias?”

“Ep?”

Mathias, who was unable to join the conversation and was eating fruit, answered stupidly. One chestnut.

“Doesn’t Mathias think that Ayla is beautiful enough? Tell me what you think her strengths are.”

“Uh uh.. Ayla is so kind-hearted and takes care of those around her.. She’s super strong, tall, and has long legs, so she’s super cool. Uh.. and also, um.. It’s cute how her braids dangle when she swings her sword..”

Ayla just listened with her face red as Mathias folded his fingers and talked about this and that.

“What do you think? Mathias thinks Ayla is cute.”

“..Be quiet.”

I’m embarrassed.