EULE 65

Chapter 65

Lionel was wasting time on something that didn’t actually require his attention.

Of course, gathering information to track down the crown princess’s informants was important, but he didn’t need to go this far for Jaylin.

All he had to do was pretend to help just enough and focus on extracting the information he needed.

Even if Jaylin was officially on the same team as him, Lionel was interfering in her matters far more than necessary.

It wasn’t like that time he had sneaked into the control room to let her experience a monster in advance.

That much was something he could easily justify as a fellow academy student.

But there was no reason to stick with her and actively help her even through the weekend.

Even if Jaylin couldn’t survive the early stages of the mock exam, it wouldn’t pose any serious problem to Lionel’s team.

And yet, he was even paying attention to Jaylin’s feelings.

When he didn’t return the grip of her hand and simply stood still with his strength relaxed, Jaylin’s fingers gradually loosened.

The moment Lionel realized this, the thoughts clouding his mind came to a halt.

Just as her hand was about to slip from the back of his own, he tightened his grip firmly around hers.

He disliked the thought of such a fragile bond breaking apart unless he held onto it himself.

Through her hand, he felt Jaylin flinch slightly.

For some reason, Lionel felt a faint sense of satisfaction as he stepped into the teleportation magic circle.

At once, the side effects of spatial travel engulfed his body—a floating sensation like the ground beneath him had dropped away. Lionel silently resolved not to concern himself with Jaylin’s feelings any further.

Yes. Helping Jaylin was acceptable only because it conveniently hid his own movements. That much he could allow. But no further.

A damp wind blew. The humid air of the marshland tossed both their hair wildly. Red reeds bent in the gust, brushing and colliding with one another.

In the vast wetlands, where the horizon was hidden and only the sound of rustling filled the air, there was nothing but Lionel and Jaylin—just the two of them.

It felt almost as if they were the only ones in existence here.

Jaylin glanced up at Lionel standing beside her. For some reason, his lips were set in a stiff line.

But the moment their eyes met, Lionel smiled radiantly against the backdrop of the sunset sky.

It was a dazzlingly precious moment. Even if only fleeting, Jaylin knew it would be etched into her memory forever.

She was grateful simply for the fact that she could share even a fragment of Lionel’s life.

But there was little time for sentiment. Soon after, endless battles with monsters began.

The final exam season was still a long way off, but Jaylin had barely a second to breathe.

During the weekdays, she had to attend classes, train under Lionel’s guidance, prepare for the upcoming festival, and even clean the control room once a week.

On weekends, she was dragged into the hologram arena for mock training under Lionel’s lead.

She was also supposed to be researching a paper on magical amplification for her department head, but there was simply no time.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been assigned with a fixed deadline, so Jaylin had put the paper off for now.

When asked about her progress, she explained that her studies were delaying the research.

Though her professor had advised her to prepare early, she had no choice but to postpone it. She promised she would work on magical amplification during the relatively freer summer break, as it would tie into her graduation thesis. The professor reluctantly accepted her reasoning.

Time passed quickly, and once again it was the day she was to train with Lionel in the hologram arena.

Jaylin’s thoughts grew complicated every weekend. Spending time with Lionel made her happy, but facing monsters drained her completely.

“Now, you remember the terrain and names from last weekend, right?”

“Yes.”

“This time, I’ll teach you which monsters appear at each point, when they’ll appear, and how to deal with them.”

Jaylin nodded.

She still disliked fighting monsters and felt nervous, but after memorizing the terrain last week and watching Lionel handle countless monsters, she felt she might be able to manage.

Besides, she wasn’t entering the hologram arena alone.

Lionel was always by her side—so she really thought she’d be fine.

At least, until she actually had to face a monster.

The first few times, she just stood frozen, staring blankly as the monsters loomed right before her eyes. The ones she failed to strike down were handled by Lionel.

After countless repetitions, an opportunity finally came for her to land a strike.

Jaylin couldn’t bear to look at the monster in front of her, so she squeezed her eyes shut and drove her dagger downward.

When she opened her eyes after a deep breath, the monster was gone.

This time—she had really defeated a monster with her own hands!

“I-I did it! I killed the monster!”

Overjoyed, Jaylin turned to Lionel.

But his expression didn’t look happy. If anything, it seemed troubled.

“Jaylin. You need to keep your eyes open when you stab.”

“Uh…?”

Somehow, Lionel’s sword was already drawn.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t felt any resistance in her grip when she stabbed. She’d just pierced empty air and assumed she’d killed the monster.

Jaylin’s face fell at once.

“It’s okay. At least you moved this time in front of the monster. Next time, you’ll do better.”

Even with his encouragement, her shoulders slumped.

“Shall we try again?”

Jaylin continued her training under Lionel’s instruction.

Teleport in, check the terrain, report her current position in Lionel’s comms window.

Then dash to the red boulder ahead and take cover.

Count to ten in her head, and a Belialian larva from the crimson swamp would appear in front of her.

The larva always attacked from her right first.

She had to turn left to dodge, then deflect its second strike toward her chest with the back of her blade.

When the enraged larva spun around to sting her with its tail, it exposed a weak spot.

That was the moment to drive her blade firmly into the breathing slit between its segments.

Stabbing the slit wouldn’t kill it outright, but it would immobilize the creature.

While she hid in relative safety, the closest teammate could then arrive and finish the job.

It was the only method possible for someone like Jaylin, who lacked stamina, strength, and swordsmanship.

After dozens of repetitions, Jaylin’s sword finally pierced the slit.

The sickening sensation of stabbing into monster flesh shot up her wrist. It was unpleasant, but the fact that she had managed it herself filled her with greater joy.

She turned to Lionel, who had been watching intently, her eyes wide with excitement.

“Did you see that? I-I really did it…”

“Congratulations. See? I told you you could.”

Jaylin nodded eagerly. He had been right.

She had thought there was no way she could ever defeat a monster with her own hands. But following Lionel’s instructions step by step, she found she actually could.

“M-my body just moved on its own. I wasn’t even thinking, but it just did.”

“Exactly. If you repeat the same motions over and over, your body memorizes them.”

And it was true—Jaylin’s body had already learned the sequence. She felt she could replicate the movements with her eyes closed.

Of course, Lionel’s method only worked in the hologram arena because the monsters’ initial movement patterns were pre-set. In real combat, it wouldn’t work the same way.

But for exam practice, this much was enough.

“Y-yeah, it’s really true.”

“You’ve got this terrain down fairly well. Let’s try it once more, then move on to the next one.”

“O-okay.”

It was amazing. Just a few weeks ago, she couldn’t have even imagined this.

In each new terrain, Lionel calculated the monsters’ spawn points and timings, worked out the simplest way Jaylin could manage, and drilled her with repeated practice until her body remembered.

Jaylin trained so hard she lost track of time.

She didn’t notice the rain beginning to fall outside the academy, drop by drop, until the courtyard was drenched in night.

By the time Jaylin and Lionel finished training and stepped out of the hologram arena, the rain was pouring down in torrents.

“Oh! I-it’s raining.”

“Yeah. Do you have an umbrella?”

“N-no. What about you, senior?”

“I don’t either.”

“Th-then what do we do?”

“Maybe it’s just a shower. Let’s wait a bit and see if it stops.”

“O-okay.”

They stood together in the arena lobby, listening to the sound of the rain. Jaylin gave a small shiver.

“Cold?”

“N-no, I’m fine.”

A strange sense of déjà vu suddenly struck Lionel.

Rain pouring down as though the sky itself had split open. And Jaylin, trembling beside him.

He felt as though something like this had happened once before.