Clang!
Smack!
The sound of wooden swords clashing echoed through the quiet forest.
“You’ve improved a lot since the beginning,” said Siegfried, smiling faintly as he blocked my strikes with minimal effort. Unlike , who was drenched in sweat and swinging the sword with everything I had, he remained perfectly composed.
It seed he was pleased with my progress.
“You’ve even lost so weight,” he added.
“Hah… just a little,” I panted in response.
As he pointed out, I had lost about 5 kg over the course of our training. It seed my teacher's brutal Spartan-style training was paying off, even with Raphne’s diet.
“Co on, Ken, you’re slowing down. Keep moving,” Siegfried ordered.
“Yes, sir!” I responded quickly.
It had been about a week since we resolved Emily’s ti loop event. The eerie woman responsible for the loop was now in the hands of the Academy's security departnt, under hypnosis. They were likely interrogating her to find out where she ca from. If they discovered her connection to the Demon King's army, things would get chaotic soon enough, though preventing it seed impossible.
This ti loop event was one of the Demon King's army’s random invasion events in the ga. The Dreadis Academy, known for housing children of high-ranking officials from various nations, had security comparable to a royal palace. Despite that, forces from the Demon King’s army would infiltrate in secret, always searching for one thing— the Child of Prophecy.
In the ga, the Child of Prophecy was a key elent tied to Emily's character, but strangely, the Demon King’s forces never seed interested in her directly. This part of the lore was never explained in the ga, leaving curious.
“…Ken, here.”
After my morning training session with Siegfried, Emily approached , handing a lemon drink she had prepared.
“You don’t have to do this every ti,” I said.
“…I want to,” she replied, a little shyly.
I couldn’t help but appreciate the gesture, though. I took the drink from her and downed it in one go. The refreshing liquid was a welco relief after the intense workout.
Ever since the ti loop event had been resolved, Emily had been joining at my morning training sessions, quietly observing.
“At the Academy, Mary is always by my side…” Emily mumbled softly, almost as if she were talking to herself.
I felt a bit guilty. She didn’t need to go out of her way to do this every morning. I had a feeling she was doing it as a way of apologizing for the past.
“Here, a towel. You worked hard today,” Emily said, but instead of handing the towel, she started wiping my face herself.
'Isn’t this sothing you usually hand to soone?' I thought, feeling a little awkward as her wiping felt more like a massage, especially when she pinched my cheeks slightly.
“Um, Ken…”
While wiping the sweat from my forehead, Emily hesitated before speaking again.
“This… all this training every day... is it because of ?” she asked, her voice soft and uncertain.
Her question made recall the days when she used to tornt , stomping on my head. Back then, she would always yell sothing along the lines of, “Lose so weight, you pig!”
Rembering that now almost made laugh, but Emily’s face was filled with regret, making it hard to joke about it.
“If it’s because of what I did to you back then… you really don’t need to! I was terrible, and... Ken, you don’t need to lose weight! You’re already... charming enough as you are…”
It seed like she was misunderstanding things. She was even trying to console with words she clearly didn’t an, struggling to maintain eye contact.
“No, it’s not because of that,” I said, taking the towel from her hand and wiping my own forehead. “I just want to get stronger. Don’t worry about it.”
I hoped that would reassure her, but Emily’s expression turned even more troubled.
“You two seem to be getting along well,” Siegfried comnted, breaking the tension.
“W-what? Siegfried! How long have you been standing there?” Emily stamred, her face turning red.
“I’ve been here the whole ti,” he replied calmly.
“Well, you could’ve said sothing!” Emily snapped, clearly flustered.
“Hm, I’ll rember that for next ti,” Siegfried said with a casual nod, leaving Emily flustered and struggling to keep her composure.
“And about your training! I’ve been watching, and it seems way too rough! You don’t need to hit Ken with a wooden sword that hard!” Emily exclaid, turning her frustration toward Siegfried.
“Hmm, well…” Siegfried began.
“If it's just about getting stronger, there are other ways! You could focus on stamina training or perfecting his swordsmanship without resorting to so much violence!” Emily continued, clearly upset by the harsh training regin.
Siegfried seed taken aback by her sudden outburst. For the first ti, he didn’t maintain his usual calm deanor. I figured it was ti to step in.
“It’s fine, Emily. I can handle it,” I said, stepping between them.
“But Ken—”
“I’m used to this kind of training. I’ve got a high tolerance, so don’t worry about .”
I had a skill called ‘Physical Resistance,’ so the hits from a wooden sword didn’t bother as much as they might seem. For , the pain was nothing compared to the experience points I was gaining.
“…I’m sorry. I’m really sorry,” Emily muttered, her head hanging low.
Wait, why was she apologizing? This wasn’t the reaction I expected.
Just then, Elise showed up, right on schedule.
“Sieg~! Breakfast is ready… Oh, wait, you’re here again?” Elise said, her expression shifting the mont she saw Emily.
Elise approached Siegfried and subtly positioned herself in front of him, blocking him from Emily’s view.
“You’ve been coming here a lot lately. Is there sothing you need?” Elise asked with a forced smile, clearly trying to assert herself.
“I, uh… no, not really…” Emily mumbled, her face turning red.
Elise narrowed her eyes, observing Emily and Siegfried with suspicion. It was obvious she was feeling threatened by Emily’s presence.
“Well, Siegfried, let’s head back before the food gets cold,” Elise said, tugging on his arm.
“Hmm, I suppose you’re right,” Siegfried replied.
“Why don’t you join us for breakfast, Emily?” Siegfried offered casually, as if it were no big deal. He often asked the sa, but I always declined due to my commitnts with Raphne.
However, to Elise, this invitation clearly wasn’t as innocent as it seed.
“Sieg… you can’t be serious…” Elise stamred, looking pale as she gripped his arm tighter.
Emily glanced at , clearly uncomfortable with the situation. I had to intervene.
“Sorry, but I need to talk to Emily about sothing,” I said, gently pulling Emily away by the arm.
“Huh? Oh…” Emily seed surprised, but she followed along without resisting.
“We’ll pass on breakfast today. Maybe next ti,” I added.
“Hm, understood,” Siegfried replied nonchalantly, while Elise bead at like I was her hero.
As they walked off, I could hear Elise’s voice trailing behind.
“Sieg! What was that about? Do you like her or sothing?”
“Her? Who are you talking about?” Siegfried asked, genuinely confused.
“You know who I an!” Elise snapped.
I smiled, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction as their playful bickering faded into the distance.
“…Ken?” Emily called softly.
“Huh? Oh! Sorry!” I quickly let go of her arm, realizing I had been holding onto it the whole ti.
“It’s fine… But what did you need to talk about?” Emily asked curiously.
“Uh… well, actually… I lied,” I admitted sheepishly. “I didn’t have anything to talk about. I just wanted to give Elise and Siegfried so space.”
“Oh… I see,” Emily said, looking a bit disappointed.
Wait, was she upset that I interrupted her chance to have breakfast with Siegfried?
“Um, Emily… Do you have feelings for Siegfried or sothing?” I asked cautiously.
“What?! No way! Why would you even think that?!” she exclaid, her face turning red once again.
Her reaction was so intense that I started to wonder if I had made a huge mistake.
“I swear, I’m not interested in Siegfried at all! Not even a little!” she continued, growing more flustered by the second.
“Oh… okay,” I replied, taking a step back as she practically yelled in my face.
“Just like with Adrian at the festival! You misunderstood that too! He’s just a friend!” Emily added.
“Is that so?”
“Yes! So stop getting the wrong idea! We’re just friends!” she shouted, her face now bright red.
She seed even more worked up than when she had been yelling at Siegfried earlier. Her eyes were wide, and she looked utterly flustered.
Wait… If it’s not Siegfried or Adrian, then who…?
“Emily, do you have soone you like?” I asked.
“…Huh?” she froze at my question, her gaze shifting downward as she fidgeted nervously.
It seed like there was soone. How had I missed this in all my playthroughs of the ga?
“Who is it? Soone in our year? Or maybe a first-year? Or a fourth-year?”
“Huh? Wha— no, I an—”
“Are they tall? Do they wear glasses? Or maybe they’re shorter?”
My questions flustered her even more, and she began stumbling over her words.
“Why do you even care, you idiot!” Emily finally yelled, squeezing her eyes shut and fleeing with her face burning red.
“…I’ll figure it out eventually,” I muttered, clenching my fist as I watched her run off.
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