-Tingle!

    “… … .”

    “Thank you for your hard work. Next time, pay a little more attention to defense.”

    “… Thank you for your hard work.”

    The swordsmanship duel with Harold, who had been dragging his feet while looking here and there, ended in vain.

    As soon as I let go of my defensive stance, I got angry at the sight of Harold blocking my attacks in a hesitant manner, and Harold broke the shield with a light blow.

    When he was paying attention to defense, he didn’t even try to break through, but as soon as his posture was relaxed, he attacked openly as if he was scolding me, which seemed too obvious.

    Now that she’s Ethan’s wife and mother, she should just stop swinging her sword at other people and just worry about protecting herself.

    ‘This really pisses me off. Back when I was trying to recruit Sword Experts, I swung my sword with the intent to kill without even knowing what was going on.’

    Seriously, in the next duel, I have to somehow win a game.

    Even though it had been almost a year since I had properly wielded a sword, I was still quite active.

    I get why Harold is worried about me, but that doesn’t mean he approves of this kind of lukewarm sparring.

    ‘I’m going to have to decide to use the dagger as a consumable item in the next battle. I’ve already collected a lot of spare daggers.’

    First of all, I need to raise my swordsmanship skills to the level of Sword Expert.

    I was watching other people’s sparring, thinking that from today on, I should make time to train separately, and this time it was Harold and Ethan’s turn.

    “Come in.”

    “… Yes.”

    The swordsmanship duel between the two began with a short conversation.

    Harold swings a long sword at a speed that is difficult to follow with the eyes, while Ethan swings the swords in each hand freely in different ways.

    Certainly, the duel between the two felt much longer than when Harold crossed swords with another student.

    Originally, swordsmanship was something that you became more skilled at the more you got to know your opponents through many encounters. Even though kids like the warrior and Natalie had fought with Harold many times during class, they were not on par with his son, Ethan.

    Ethan has been training with his father for nearly ten years, fighting with his sword since he was young. To that extent, Harold is the opponent Ethan knows best, and to Harold, Ethan is one of the opponents of that level.

    So the number of times they exchanged swords like that had to increase compared to other duels. Of course, both of them would have a lot on their minds about what their opponent would do and how to respond, not to mention the basic hand-to-hand combat.

    “Ohhh… .”

    “Definitely, swordsmanship comparable to that of a warrior… .”

    “You said that you were the second-ranking member of the swordsmanship department until two years ago… .”

    As the duel got longer, everyone started saying something to Ethan.

    Well, Ethan’s swordsmanship skills were already among the top three among the Academy students. Now that the Warrior, Natalie, and even Karaham have graduated, there’s probably no one in the swordsmanship club who can share a sword with Ethan.

    I’m not trying to brag, but all of that was the result of me motivating Ethan by rewarding him. If I hadn’t set conditions for Ethan when he was young, like letting him touch my chest, Ethan probably wouldn’t have been swinging his sword so diligently.

    ‘… Wait, now that you mention it.’

    What happens if Ethan wins a game against Harold now?

    Should I do that again as a reward, just like I did before?

    ‘I don’t really plan on avoiding it, but I’m a little flustered because I think I might suddenly do it.’

    But if you think about it, that was just a contract that Ethan and I made when we were ‘temporary lovers’, so it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with me now.

    In the first place, if you’re not just a temporary lover but a real lover, that’s usually it. You just make eye contact and have sex without thinking, and stuff like that.

    Even more so because Ethan and I had passed that stage and were practically a couple. We could have sex without the reward of this swordsmanship training.

    No, rather, if you bring up sex and such as compensation for something like this, it would be a problem. Ethan would feel like he was being deprived of the rights he naturally had as a husband.

    ‘In this world, there’s no such thing as a sexless divorce, but if possible, it’s better to have a relationship that’s as marital as possible.’

    The days of giving sex between a man and a woman as a reward for sparring are over. This is something you can do whenever you want.

    So, then, it seems like we should start preparing a higher level of compensation… Honestly, I don’t really have a feel for what that higher level of compensation is.

    What’s better than sex? What could Ethan like more than sex right now?

    Dating? Cosplay? These are all things that a married couple can easily do, so let’s skip over them.

    If not… maybe some kind of special wall?

    … for example, giving compensation for something that has never been permitted before.

    ‘No, no, no. That’s really not it.’

    What the hell are you thinking? Ethan probably wouldn’t like it in the first place.

    No, I wonder if he’ll like it? If it’s the sinister look he showed us in the oceanography exploration class last time, he might like it.

    But isn’t it honestly problematic to like this kind of thing? It’s not a normal relationship, so what’s good about putting it that way?

    … But if it’s a married couple relationship, it might be a completely possible play category. Oh, I don’t know. If there’s someone among your friends who’s married, you can either listen to their advice or not.

    If there’s anyone who’s close to me and has knowledge of this field, it’s probably only someone like Lilia…

    ‘Let’s ask each other later. What does Rilia do with Karaham?’

    Last time I heard, they shared a dorm and sucked and bit each other all night long. Considering our physical strengths, it might have been even more than mine and Ethan’s.

    If so, it is highly likely that he has tried many different positions and may be able to give me the answer I want.

    Well, since I have a lot of time anyway, I’ll have some tea with Rilia this weekend and give her some advice on relationships between men and women…

    -Tingle!!

    “… … .”

    “… … .”

    … … Huh?

    Just now, it looks like Harold’s side’s barrier was broken… .

    “Good work, Ethan. Still, it’s good to see you haven’t taken a break from swords for a year.”

    “… Thank you, Professor.”

    “And this time it worked, but still, when using the magic dismantlement technique, think a little more carefully. Always assume failure and move more cautiously.”

    “I will keep that in mind.”

    From what I’ve heard in the conversation, it seems like Ethan really did win the game.

    Even though his skills are improving day by day, I never thought he would hit Harold as soon as he returned to the academy.

    I was surprised by Ethan’s rapid growth for a moment. My worries of thinking and judging leisurely were now reaching a point of alarm.

    ‘What should I do?’

    …right tonight. I was wondering if I should let Ethan do it ‘that way’.

    ⁎ ⁎ ⁎

    After finishing the swordsmanship duel with Harold at the academy for the first time in a long while.

    Ethan smiled inwardly as he started his first semester back at school with a pleasant victory.

    He had been worried that his swordsmanship might have rusted during the months he had spent searching for the release, but he felt that it wasn’t the case after he had won a match against his father.

    … It wasn’t a simple swordsmanship duel, but rather a victory achieved through the proper use of the magic disintegration technique learned through crossing the river, so it can’t be called a full swordsmanship duel, but in any case, my father’s magic swordsmanship lessons were duels in which he mobilized every means at his disposal.

    The important thing was that the more tools you could use, the stronger you became. If your swordsmanship skills became dull, you could just swing again and find them.

    “Thank you for your hard work, Ethan.”

    “Yeah, the release was also hard.”

    Ethan returns to his seat, greeted by his lover… no, now his wife.

    -Wriggle, wiggle.

    “… … .”

    “… … ?”

    However, the slightly strange atmosphere felt from the release suddenly made Ethan feel tense.

    “Release?”

    “Yes, yes?!”

    “… What’s that reaction? Are you hiding something from me?”

    “Su, are you hiding it…? Th, that’s… .”

    … Surely you won’t have another strange misunderstanding like last time and suddenly drop out of the academy and run away?

    If someone else saw it, they would say it was hypochondria, but for Ethan, it was a serious problem. Especially since he had already had a bitter experience once.

    Since that incident, he had sworn not to keep even the smallest secret between himself and Lilith, so it was only natural that he would become suspicious of her unnatural behavior.

    “Release, what’s wrong? If you have something to say to me, tell me honestly.”

    “… … .”

    “We promised not to hide anything from each other from now on, Lilith.”

    “There, there’s that, Ethan… .”

    “Yeah.”

    What kind of misunderstanding is happening this time? And if there is a misunderstanding, how should it be resolved this time?

    Ethan waited for Lilith’s answer with those thoughts in mind, but what came out of her mouth was a question of a kind he had never imagined.

    “That, Ethan… .”

    “Yeah.”

    “Is there something you are so embarrassed about that you can’t tell me about… . Is there something like that… ?”

    “… … What?”

    … It must have been almost 10 years since I first knew Lilith.

    To Ethan, she was still a woman whose thoughts he could never quite figure out.

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