A Monster Is Teaching a Monster
The golden weekend came to an end, and the weekdays arrived. Everyone began moving early in the morning, ready to burn through the stamina they had recovered over the break as they headed off to their respective tasks. Some still looked drained despite the rest, while others wore refreshed expressions yet soured at the simple fact that they now had to work.
“Haa~am.”
And I clearly fell into the exhausted category. My body was perfectly fine, but the fatigue came from a mind that refused to rest.
“Maybe I should drink one of those awakening beverages.”
-It’s better not to consume too much of those unhealthy drinks.
Haha, I know that already. But what am I supposed to do about being this tired? In my previous life I secretly pulled several all-nighters even while hospitalized, yet the exhaustion I feel now is easily twice as heavy. My current body is far superior to the one I had back then, but since this is reality rather than a game, the act of personally killing living things seems to weigh heavily on my fatigue.
-If you’re that tired, I’ll lend you a temporary hand.
“How?”
-It will sting a little.
Cheonma’s hand shot forward at the speed of light and slapped my cheek. Smack.
“······?”
My head snapped sideways from the force. The crisp sound rang clearly in my ear.
Did she… just slap me?
I touched the struck cheek in a daze and turned to look at Cheonma.
-Doesn’t that wake you right up?
“…It definitely tingles.”
-I channeled my lightning into you while delivering a direct strike, so of course it does. No wonder it felt a bit electric.
-Of course, since there is real physical impact I cannot use it often. But if it’s only once in a while, I will gladly lend you my hand.
It doesn’t hurt much, but the feeling is strange. From an efficiency standpoint, letting Cheonma slap some sense into me saves time and works well, but I doubt I could keep offering my cheek on a regular basis.
I need to find a proper solution.
“Ah! Z-Zeon!”
“Karne.”
I gave a light wave toward the voice calling me from behind. Karne immediately picked up her pace, legs pumping like an excited puppy running to its owner.
“Huff. Huff.”
“Are you okay?”
“Huu… Y-yes. It’s just that my stamina is so weak. Haha……”
I gently patted Karne’s back as she panted heavily.
“Karne.”
“Huu…! Yes, what is it?”
“What’s your combat style?”
“M-me?”
Given her delicate frame, she probably favored speed over heavy weapons like greatswords. Though with the speed I saw earlier, maybe closing in for melee would still be difficult. That would make pure magic the most likely path, similar to Regalia.
“I’m… in the magic category, I suppose.”
Even magicians should build up their stamina. If you only fire spells from the rear, you’ll die in no time. The biggest reason magicians need to train their bodies enough to protect themselves is, above all, their own survival. Regalia has stuck to rear support so far, but I bet she would step forward and fight directly if the situation allowed.
“Then what attributes do you use?”
“Um, if I had to say… water and wind?”
“Oh, two attributes? Karne, you’re quite the talent.”
Magic with both water and wind attributes. In that case, this should be perfect.
I pulled an item from my pocket and held it out to her.
“Here, take this.”
“What is it…?”
-Are you really just going to hand it over?
I nodded without hesitation at Cheonma’s mental question. If the attributes hadn’t matched or if Karne hadn’t been a magician, that would be one thing. But with the conditions aligning so perfectly, there was no reason for me to keep it.
“A necklace?”
Karne tilted her head as she examined the necklace I gave her. This was no ordinary item. It was a reward I had obtained from the simulation, after all.
An object infused with the essences of water and wind. Simply possessing it raises affinity for both water and wind attributes.
Water Affinity +20%
Wind Affinity +20%
Karne must have sensed it was no ordinary trinket. Her eyes widened to twice their normal size as she stared intently at the necklace.
“Zeon. This is……”
“It’s a gift. It doesn’t really suit me.”
“This is way too much for a gift?! What did I even do to deserve a present!”
Karne panicked and tried to return the necklace, but I shook my head. Come on, just take it. She kept trying to give it back. I stubbornly refused. In the end, Karne gave up first. She clutched the necklace with both hands as if afraid she might drop it and asked,
“Can I… really keep this?”
“It’s fine. It’s useless to me even if I keep it.”
“All right… huh?”
The moment she finally moved to accept it, Karne’s entire body suddenly froze like a statue.
“Karne?”
She had stopped dead in the middle of the path to the academy. I paused as well and turned around. Karne was drenched in cold sweat, eyes darting around with excessive wariness.
Must be because of that.
The soul inside her had been quietly sleeping or simply observing until now. Suddenly it swelled up and began to rampage. That had to be why.
-How insolent.
Crackle.
“Hic!”
“Karne?”
Cheonma frowned in displeasure and flicked her fingers. A small spark of violet lightning shot from her fingertips straight toward Karne—or more precisely, toward the soul inside her. The soul emitted black smoke, hastily erected a barrier, and cowered.
“I-it’s nothing… hic! Really!”
It clearly wasn’t nothing. One look told me Cheonma’s actions had caused some kind of problem. When I glanced at my master, she simply stared at Karne with a twisted, mocking smile.
“Master?”
I spoke softly, unsettled by her unusual attitude toward Karne. She kept her gaze fixed on the girl and answered.
-You hid like a rat quite well. If you wanted to stay hidden, you should have kept quiet. Yet you dared reach out toward me?
“Master, what are you even……”
“Sorry, I-I’ll go on ahead!”
“Hey, Karne……!”
“See you at lunch!”
Karne’s face turned deathly pale. The moment Cheonma made another move, she fled as if running for her life.
After watching the entire sequence, I quietly asked Cheonma,
“Master, did that strange soul inside Karne do something?”
-Mm… I suspected as much. So you saw it too.
I easily affirmed that I could see the other souls, including her. Cheonma continued.
-There was a strange being attached to that child’s body. Its hiding ability was so meticulous that even I failed to notice it properly until the thing released its energy first.
“…Pardon?”
I was shocked three times by Cheonma’s words. First, by the fact that its stealth—or a similar defensive ability—was good enough to escape even Cheonma’s notice. Second, by the realization that I had perceived its identity from the very beginning without any such effort. And third, by the sheer audacity of it daring to reach toward Cheonma.
But it seems she couldn’t see it the way I can. From the way she spoke, it sounded like she had sensed it rather than visually perceived it.
-It doesn’t appear to intend any direct harm to the child, but judging by the power I felt, she will likely get dragged into troublesome matters later whether she wants to or not.
“Just who is the being inside Karne that you would say something like that?”
-I don’t know the exact individual, but I know the origin of that power very well. It was unmistakably the power to manipulate space.
Space? If it’s space, then…!
“…Does that mean the Arbaana family?”
-Yes. Only they can wield space, so there is no doubt.
One of the four great families, the Arbaana household wielded the unique concept of space. Unlike the other families they were extremely closed-off, with particularly severe discrimination between men and women. Though their power was immense, they could not mingle well with others and remained isolated. That was the Arbaana family.
“I never imagined someone from the Arbaana family would be attached to Karne.”
-Well, they share the same blood, so it makes sense.
“…Pardon?”
Same blood?
-Hm? You didn’t know?
Cheonma seemed more surprised by my reaction.
-That child called Karne. Though faint, Arbaana blood flows through her veins.
That was information I had never even considered. A truly shocking revelation.
Step. Step.
“I can’t hear anything. I’m not hearing anything at all.”
Karne walked down the hallway with her ears covered. She gnashed her teeth, replaying her earlier behavior.
“Why did I run away like that back then……”
Would Zeon look at her strangely now? Worried, Karne stopped for a moment. At the same time, the voice she had dismissed as auditory hallucinations rang inside her head once more.
-Thanks to that, I survived, didn’t I? I’m glad I can still converse with you.
“Ugh! It’s that hallucination again!”
-I wish you would start accepting me properly. If you keep acting like this, even I get a little hurt, you know?
The voice laughed as if delighted by Karne’s intense reaction. She secretly broke into a cold sweat as she recalled what had happened earlier.
The male student who walked with the descendant she cherished. Normally she stayed quietly inside Karne’s body, holding her breath and observing, because of the incredibly powerful spirit always beside him. But today, out of nowhere, he had given her descendant a gift—an artifact that looked exceptionally valuable, no less!
-I tried to find out what he was thinking, but I ended up being the one who got hit. That was quite a shock.
Still, she had learned that his character wasn’t particularly bad. And she had realized one more thing.
The boy known as Karne’s friend possessed talent and potential so vast it seemed capable of swallowing the heavens. For such a person to have a monster-like soul attached to him… From the look of it, the soul was bound to his dedicated weapon.
So a monster is teaching a monster.
If that man grows stronger and inherits the power sealed within the weapon… Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.