Chapter 24
Today was Teacher Mion's private lesson period.
If the students were studying on their own, Teacher Mion would come around and check how much each of them had understood from the previous lesson; that was the format of the class.
In short, private tutoring.
Cold sweat trickled down Jeong Yushin's forehead.
Teacher Mion was far too close.
She had placed a chair beside his desk and sat there, leaning her upper body toward him, leaving him nowhere to look.
“Now then. Repeat after me and write it down in your notebook.”
“Yes.”
“I like young children.”
Mion's breath tickled his ear.
“...”
“Would you like me to say it one more time?”
“···I like young children.”
It felt as though he'd suddenly fallen into a close-contact ASMR dictation brainwashing trap.
One wrong move and he could end up in prison.
Focusing with all his might, he wrote each character in his notebook one by one.
“Mr. Ska, your handwriting is very neat.”
“Thank you.”
Mion brushed her fallen hair behind her ear. A sweet scent wafted past his nose and prodded at his brain.
“The witch said again, ‘Young children haven't fully matured, so their flesh is soft and tender. They're the best food.’”
‘Just look at the level of fairy tales in this other world.’
It was the crisis scene from a fairy tale called The Earth Spirit and the Woodcutter, and it was rather gruesome for children to read.
He repeated the words as he wrote them down.
“Hmm? Mr. Ska, you got this part wrong. Write it again.”
Mion leaned in even farther and tapped the incorrect part with her finger.
A shocking sight entered his field of vision.
“Ugh.”
No matter how loose the priestess's robes were, they couldn't conceal the enormous breasts spread across the desk like pudding.
They were toxic to his eyes.
I'm going to get hard.
His dick declared with absolute certainty.
‘No!’
Getting an erection in a classroom full of children.
The bars of a prison cell shimmered before his eyes.
Mion's contemptuous gaze shimmered before his eyes as well.
Even better.
‘No. Get a grip!’
Jeong Yushin opened his eyes wide. The temple receptionist's warning flashed through his mind. If an “unsavory incident” occurred, he would be expelled from the orphan academy. That would mean losing his chance to learn cheaply. He absolutely had to avoid that.
“Mr. Ska?”
“Yes. I'll correct it now.”
He hurriedly moved his pen to correct the mistake.
His right arm struck Mion's chest.
Jeong Yushin's powerful arm crushed Mion's plump breasts and lightly grazed the nipples hidden beneath her thin lace bra.
“Eek!”
Mion flinched and pulled her body back.
A catastrophe.
“Ghk! I'm so sorryyy!”
He immediately slammed his forehead to the floor and apologized.
“Ah... no. I was leaning too close. I'm sorry.”
Mion's face turned tomato red. She covered her breasts with one hand. But could one hand really cover H-cup breasts? If anything, it only made her look more provocative.
“Teacher, look at mine too!”
“That's right! Teacher, why do you keep sticking only to that Barbaroi?”
The children seated nearby whined in dissatisfied voices.
“All right. Mr. Ska, correct the part you got wrong just now. I'll check it again after class.”
“Yes.”
Mion stood and left with stiff movements.
Jeong Yushin began correcting the part he had written incorrectly.
But the soft sensation of those breasts kept haunting him.
“Oh, honestly! Teacher? Please concentrate.”
“Huh? Oh... I see. I'm sorry.”
“Huh? Teacher, something pointy has sprouted from your chest. Could it be a bug...”
“F-Focus!!”
He tried to ignore the conversation behind him.
‘What if I get expelled?’
No way.
Suppressing his anxiety, he focused on his studies.
Sitting there like he was on a bed of nails, he read the fairy tale, transcribed it himself, and memorized the words he needed.
Time passed, and before he knew it, it was around lunchtime.
“Now, that's all for today. You all worked hard again today. I'll check your homework tomorrow.”
“Yes, Teacher. Thank you. Are you coming again tomorrow?”
“Hehe. Who knows?”
“Please come again tomorrow!”
“Shall I do that?”
Mion spoke in a slightly sultry voice as she repeatedly brushed her hair behind her ear. The back of her neck was slightly red.
‘Did she just make eye contact with me?’
As Mion turned her head to look at the students, she seemed to glance at him for a moment.
But her eyes were narrowed, so he couldn't be sure.
“Let's leave which teacher will come tomorrow as a pleasant surprise.”
“Aww.”
“Ska, stay behind for a moment. Everyone else, go eat. Class dismissed!”
The students filed out, leaving only Mion and Jeong Yushin.
“Hmm-hmm. You corrected it well. Excellent.”
“Thank you.”
“Um... do you perhaps have some time?”
“I can't stay long. I'm sorry.”
Mion's face became shocked at Jeong Yushin's curt answer.
‘Sorry. I already spent thirty silver coins on the Swordsmanship Guild.’
“Th-then shall we talk while we walk?”
“Yes.”
He gathered his writing implements and put them in a small bag. Darmong had given him the bag to commemorate his admission to the orphan academy; it had a cute bear face drawn on it.
He slung the bag over his shoulder and walked alongside Mion.
“Anne told me everything. That you saved your companions.”
“I was lucky.”
It wasn't a lie. Really. At the time, he had had enough trouble saving his own skin.
“Even so, that's rare for a novice explorer. And to willingly hand over silver coins on top of that. Even if you were in the same party, it was an astonishingly kind deed.”
“It was only a few silver coins.”
Mion's sudden praise left him awkward.
“That's a lot of money for a novice explorer. I know. I used to be an explorer too.”
Mion's expression grew serious.
‘She used to be an explorer?’
He hadn't known.
“You were an explorer?”
“Ahaha. Yes. Though that was a long time ago. Not anymore.”
He decided not to ask further at Mion's bitter smile.
“Anyway! Our temple has decided to extend a courtesy to kind Mr. Ska.”
“What do you mean by ‘special accommodation’?”
“Ta-da! You can use the Earth Mother Goddess Temple's confession booth for only five copper coins!”
“A confession booth?”
The Eucharist?
Wasn't it some religious practice of confessing one's sins with a wooden partition between two people?
“Yes! How about it? Nice, right? A spectacular bargain, right?”
“Do I look like a sinful person to you?”
He asked honestly.
Mion waved her hands in flustered denial. Her sizable baby feeders jiggled along with them.
“No! That's not what I meant. It's called a confession booth, but it's really just a place where you can open up and tell someone the things you've kept in your heart, the things you can't tell anyone else.”
“Is there really any need to do that?”
“The labyrinth is a place where it's easy to get hurt emotionally. Alcohol, debauchery, and cheerful conversation aren't enough. Thorns embedded in the soul don't come out that way.”
Her voice was filled with conviction.
Mion's narrowed eyes had opened without him noticing.
Jeong Yushin silently gazed into Mion's golden eyes.
Petals heralding the end of spring rode the wind past the two of them.
“Some people work through their emotional knots with food and conversation.”
Jeong Yushin opened his mouth.
Darmong, and warm food.
“...”
Mion looked at Jeong Yushin with pity.
“Still, thank you. I'll use it someday. Can I say anything in the confession booth?”
Mion gave him a small, gentle smile.
“Yes. Anything.”
* * *
After finishing his conversation with Mion, he stuffed his stomach with food at the temple cafeteria and ran to the Swordsmanship Guild.
“You're late!”
The elf standing in the training yard wore an extremely irritated expression.
“I'm sorry, Guild Master.”
“Look at that relaxed face of yours. Did you go on a date with some pretty woman?”
It was an astonishingly specific guess. A chill ran down his spine.
“No.”
“Oh, really? Don't give me that. Look at that guilty face. Your face is already relaxed, so all that's left is to loosen up your body. Run forty laps around the training yard and come back.”
“Yes.”
He ran without complaint.
Ten laps.
Twenty laps.
The moment his pace slowed even a little, the elf's sarcasm and shouting erupted.
“And you call that running? Your lower body is terribly weak. Are you really a Barbaroi?! Run!!”
Thirty laps.
“Even a sluggish caterpillar would run better than you. Lift your head! Grit your teeth!”
Under the elf's fierce watch, he completed forty laps.
“Huuugh. Kheeeugh.”
“Stop making sounds like a pig being slaughtered and grab your sword. Take the stance you learned yesterday.”
“Khhhhh. Yes.”
Still soaked in sweat and without even a chance to rest, he gripped the wooden sword.
The sword trembled violently.
Middle guard.
“Here I come.”
The elf attacked without mercy.
The elf swung his sword like a storm, as if yesterday had merely been a taste.
Jeong Yushin was tossed around in every direction like a sailboat drifting alone in a storm.
But he did not capsize.
He gritted his teeth and endured. Blood seeped from his tightly clenched lips.
He didn't even have time to breathe properly.
With his cramping arms, he traced the sword's path.
The simple sword paths he had learned yesterday.
Downward slash.
Upward slash.
Horizontal slash.
Finally, a diagonal slash.
Clack!!
The wooden swords collided.
A test of strength.
The wooden sword in Jeong Yushin's hands trembled violently.
He could see the elf's face across the crossed wooden swords.
The elf grinned.
“I hear you killed a Hobgoblin Warrior. On only your second trip into the labyrinth.”
“···You investigated my background too?”
“If you spend enough time in this place, you learn things whether you want to or not.”
‘He was the guild master, damn this elf.’
The elf put more force into his wooden sword and pushed.
Fwoosh!!
Jeong Yushin's body staggered backward. Dust rose from the training-yard floor.
The elf's sword strikes continued. Even after leveling up, they were overwhelmingly fast—far too fast for him to follow.
Smack!
Pain like his shoulder was being seared with a hot iron drew a groan from him.
“Kgh.”
“Come on. We don't have time.”
Just like yesterday, people gathered around them and formed a circle.
Smack!
His waist.
Smack!
His thigh.
Whack!
His neck.
The hits had landed in bad places.
“Guuugh.”
Unable to breathe, he curled up like a bug.
Drool dribbled from Jeong Yushin's mouth.
“Guild Master, isn't that a little much?”
A bull beastman with one broken horn frowned.
It was too harsh for a beginner swordsmanship lesson.
“I can still do it.”
Jeong Yushin rose, using the wooden sword like a cane, and said so.
“That's what he says.”
The elf shrugged, as though it had nothing to do with him.
“...”
The bull beastman shook his head with his arms folded.
Jeong Yushin gripped the wooden sword with both hands and raised it.
High guard.
The tip of the sword rose high enough to stab the evening sky.
The elf smirked.
“High guard? The new guy's got no manners.”
“Here I come.”
“Bring it.”
* * *
The sword dance between the elf and the human did not stop until nightfall.
Everyone went home. The training yard was empty.
The elf looked down at Jeong Yushin, who lay collapsed and gasping.
“That's enough for today. Don't be late tomorrow.”
“Huuugh. Yes.”
“Good work.”
“Huuugh. You too, Guild Master. Kheeeugh. Good work.”
The elf left, and Jeong Yushin was alone in the training yard.
“Good grief. This is brutal.”
He sat down on the training-yard floor and massaged various parts of his body to work out the kinks. He didn't want to suffer tomorrow morning with muscles stiff as boards, just like this morning.
He naturally reviewed today's training.
‘All I did was get beaten up. And I got plenty of corrections on my stance.’
He had also been told several times that his lower body was weak.
‘Should I at least do squats?’
He added squats to his dawn workout.
He got to his feet and left the training yard.
When he returned to the inn, Darmong greeted him.
“You've been reduced to a tattered rag.”
“It was training worth the money. The guild master was teaching me personally.”
Darmong's eyes widened as if he were genuinely surprised.
“That elf?”
“He is an elf. Is he famous?”
“He's a city-certified Swordmaster. His name is Ashur Startry.”
“A Swordmaster?”
The Swordmaster who could cut through everything blocking his way with sword aura?
Could the other world's cheat ability really be in his hands?
His heart pounded fiercely.
“Does a Swordmaster also emit light from his sword and cut through everything?”
“A Swordmaster can cut anything even with nothing but an old iron sword. And light coming from the sword? Are you talking about an aura blade? You have one of those too.”
“What?”
“Sacred Weapon. That's a type of aura blade too. A low-grade one, though.”
“Egh.”
Darmong stroked his chin for a moment, then continued.
“There was a rumor that a legendary swordsman once used one, but it was only a rumor. Don't rely too heavily on your Engraving; train honestly. That's the fate of the vanguard.”
Perhaps because Jeong Yushin's shoulders drooped and he looked pitiful, Darmong added one more thing.
“The title of Swordmaster is given only to the strong. Not merely someone strong, but someone strong enough to receive official recognition from Labyrinth City. Such a person teaching you swordsmanship? Even if you had mountains of gold coins, you couldn't buy an opportunity like this.”
“Yes. I'll work hard.”
“And...”
Darmong paused in the middle of speaking.
“Never mind. We'll talk later. Get some rest tonight.”
“Yes. Darmong. Good work.”
Darmong sighed as he watched Jeong Yushin's back ascending to the second floor.
“A Swordmaster. Ska, what on earth have you been up to?”
Darmong's sigh-laden mutter did not reach the second floor.