Chapter 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Knight Protecting the Young Lady(?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The moon hung in the sky, and a faint mist rose around them. Crosses and tombstones that didn't belong on the blackened earth were scattered here and there, as if this were the land of the dead.
This was the scene inside the Gate.
It was a perfect fit for the ghost-type monsters the professor had described.
The graveyard stretched on endlessly, looking no different from the reality we lived in at first glance. But there was one key difference: behind us, where we'd entered, was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
A black curtain split the dimensional boundary like a veil, with a bright light the size of the Gate shining through, marking the exit.
Gazing into the distance, you could also see a translucent wall blocking the way, outlining the boundaries of the Gate's interior.
It looked vast, but it was about the same size as the cave-type Gate where we'd met Bianca.
"Bianca, don't do anything until I give the order."
"Yes, Master."
I restricted Bianca's actions for now. No matter how strong she was, she couldn't protect me in every situation.
To prepare for the worst, I needed to get stronger myself. Now that I could raise my job rank, putting in the effort opened up real possibilities.
So while attending the academy, it was best to hone my combat senses now.
Since I'd already discussed it with my teammates, everyone was tense.
"Let's eat some bread first!"
We each took a piece of bread from Cha Yu-rin and started hashing out a simple strategy.
Ate mana-glowing bread! Mana recovery speeds up for a set time!
"Baek Hwa can make sword aura, so she's good.... What about you, A-jun?"
It had already been several days since Bianca suddenly appeared. I'd grown a bit in that time, but sword aura...? No way!
I mainly used the sword now, but compared to Baek Hwa, I'd trained for a much shorter time, and my job wasn't specialized in swordsmanship, so I hadn't developed sword aura yet.
And if I had to make excuses, I'd been so focused on sex with Bianca to fill up my overflowing negative experience that I'd neglected my sword practice a little.
With Instructor Sin Han-byeol, whom I'd hired to teach me after academy classes, we'd only done short sessions, so of course I hadn't learned sword aura.
"Not yet...."
"Oh? Well, you should've at least learned sword aura... It's basic for a swordsman, right?"
For some reason, Lee Ji-hyun's words sounded like she was mocking me.
My imagination, probably...?
Maybe I'd gotten too cocky lately, walking around with an SS-rank monster like Bianca. As she said, any swordsman should learn sword aura the moment they pick up a blade.
Sword aura was relatively easy to learn even without the Swordmaster job, and it came naturally as your Swordsmanship skill leveled up from swinging the sword. It was a given.
Here, I needed to humbly accept it.
"Sorry. Lately, I've been focusing on job experience...."
"...."
The moment I opened my mouth, all the girls except me shot me glares. Bianca, of course, proudly thrust out her chest like it was something to brag about.
'This is sexual harassment....'
Thinking about it, saying I'd been raising my job experience in this female-dominated team was basically sexual harassment.
It was the same as saying I'd been having sex.
"Young Lady, may I give this guy a crash course real quick?"
"Sigh. Fine, no choice. Baek Hwa, teach him quick. It's early in the semester, so it won't hurt your evaluation much. Ten minutes should do it?"
"Yes, Young Lady."
No helping it.
If I'd known today's practical class involved ghost-type monsters, I'd have learned sword aura yesterday. I didn't like learning from Baek Hwa with her mismatched twintails, but it was my fault, so I agreed.
Baek Hwa and I moved a short distance away from the others, who were chatting and eating bread.
"No time, so hurry up. I hate teaching trash like you, but it's the Young Lady's orders!"
"Y-Yes...."
I gave a half-hearted reply and decided to ask what was on my mind.
"But can I really handle sword aura in ten minutes?"
"Of course! I'm a Sword Saint! I have skills to teach swordsmanship to anyone walking the path of the blade!"
Sword Saint could do that too...?
Wait, Sword Saint was like Swordmaster in English, right?
Then someday, as a Sex Master, could I...?
"Urk-!!"
"You little...!"
Just thinking about it made me want to puke. Imagining teaching another guy how to have sex...!
I swore I'd never teach anyone else.
"Just looking at your face makes me wanna hurl, but I'm holding it in!"
"Ah, sorry.... It's not that I hate learning from you, I just had a weird thought pop up... Whoa!"
"Tch. Whatever it was, take this. It's motion sickness meds."
What the...?
Baek Hwa suddenly handing me motion sickness pills felt kinda tsundere. Probably my imagination.
"Thanks."
I thanked her and took the pills. Otherwise, that horrific image I'd just had would've made me actually barf.
"Grab my hair first."
"?!!!"
After the meds calmed me a bit, she turned around and told me to grab her twintails.
"Wh-What... the?"
"Hurry! It's faster for teaching!!"
"O-Okay."
I gently grasped Baek Hwa's hair.
"Gr-Grip it t-tight...! Hard, with all your strength...! Then channel mana into it, imagining the hair standing up like a sword...!!"
"S-Sorry-!!"
"Don't apologize!"
Even with our strength difference, gripping her hair hard must hurt a bit, but she was doing this for me despite hating it.
Baek Hwa suddenly seemed different.
Like a noble knight truly devoted to protecting her Young Lady.
Her man-hating was probably just loyalty, fearing harm might come to her lady from some creep....
Ugh... Sorry for misunderstanding you all this time, Baek Hwa!
Squeeze-!!
Understanding her heart, I gripped the twintails hard and channeled mana.
'It's not working...?'
The problem was I had no idea how to channel mana in the first place. Sword aura was simply infusing mana into the blade, but since I couldn't make sword aura yet, of course I couldn't channel mana.
"Um... sorry, but how do I channel mana?"
"F-Focus...♥ Imagine m-moving the mana inside youuu...-♥♥ Hnngh♥ K-Keep imagining... until it happens...!"
"O-Okay! I'll hurry!"
Grabbing her hair so hard must hurt more than I thought. For her sake, I needed to master channeling mana fast.
I focused and tried moving my mana with all I had.
"Hnnngh-!!"
I first wrapped mana around my body. That was basic basics, and I could do it.
Now, extend it outside my body.
Once I got it once, it'd be like learning to ride a bike—I could infuse mana anywhere, not just swords, super easily.
'Eject mana outward. Image... image...'
Boner-!!!
Oh... shit!
Thinking about ejecting mana made my dick hard. It bulged through my pants, poking Baek Hwa's ass and slipping between her thighs.
"S-Sorry!"
"Khng-!! I-It's fineee... Considering your job... in this first-time situation, it's unavoidable...."
I thought she'd snap at me, but instead she said it was okay and pressed her ass against my stomach so I wouldn't feel embarrassed.
Now it looked like she was giving me a thigh job.
Thankfully, my back was to the team, so they couldn't see.
"To release mana e-easily... think of it as using one of your job's skills that infuses mana... Hic...♥♥"
Shiver-!!
Baek Hwa started trembling mid-sentence.
She was following the Young Lady's orders, but with a guy's dick— one she hated so much—between her thighs and her hair gripped, she was suppressing her rage.
'One of my skills...'
She stopped talking, but I got the point.
Among my skills, the one that shot mana outward was Ejaculate. Every time I came, I felt mana bursting out from inside me.
There was Female Slave too, but that felt more like mana being sucked out forcefully, so I recalled the sensation of ejaculating.
"Oh... it's w-working!"
About five minutes into practice.
Finally, Baek Hwa's limp twintails started rising to the sides bit by bit.
"Got it!"
"Haaah......!!! Nnngh!!!"
When her twintails defied gravity and pointed skyward, I shouted in joy. As I let go, she collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
"You okay?"
"Hah, haaah.... Y-Yeah. Teaching someone else drains you like this. Hah... G-Gimme a sec...."
Satisfied a bitch! Experience gained!
'She's the real deal.'
I understood Baek Hwa's sincerity. Even a man she despised so much—as a Sword Saint, she genuinely rejoiced in her student's achievement.
That was Baek Hwa.
If I weren't a guy, I'd probably respect her.
From now on, even if she hated me, I'd try to understand.
She was truly a knight protecting her Young Lady.