Growth

I fainted, and when I came to, it was morning.

"...What are you doing here?"

"Yeonhwa?"

The instant I opened my eyes, they met Yeonhwa's, looking down at me. Vivid pale-pink irises. A faint scent of flowers. She must have found me collapsed and offered her lap as a pillow.

"If you're awake, get up."

"Ah."

The moment I hurriedly sat up —

Thud.

A neatly folded sheet of paper slipped to the ground.

"What's that?"

"Beats me."

I picked it up and unfolded it. A peculiar token sat at the top, and beneath it, tidy handwriting filled the page.

Below that title, a detailed analysis of me — my strengths, my weaknesses, and training methods conceived from both — had been laid out with painstaking care.

...As expected of the Headmaster.

It was a clean, rational proposal, the kind that could only come from a lifetime of experience.

Then this must be the Dawn Society's token.

The Dawn Society. A student organization built around Leopold and Cheolsu, dedicated to wiping out the cult. They were called students, but every last one of them was a powerhouse who wouldn't look out of place on a real battlefield.

Looks like I somehow managed to catch their interest.

I pocketed the token and kept reading, and that was when I found a condition that had been hastily tacked on at the end.

"Sir Evan, why have you come bearing only your neck?"

I grabbed my sword, ready to bolt —

Clack!

Yeonhwa seized my wrist.

"Where do you think you're going."

"I'll be back before the tea gets cold."

"Cut the crap and eat first."

She turned as she said it, and since she still had my wrist, I was forcibly turned around with her.

"Our Yeonhwa. So you're the type who never skips breakfast?"

"What are you talking about. It's not even morning anymore."

"Not morning? What do you mean by —"

I checked the time.

"Three in the afternoon...?"

Lunch had come and gone a long time ago.

"I almost starved to death."

"Hmm? Don't tell me you waited without eating?"

"...No."

I already knew what her face would look like when she said it.

"I didn't wait. I just wasn't thinking about it."

Pat.

I set my other hand on Yeonhwa's head.

"Thanks. For waiting."

"I didn't wait."

She looked like a child embarrassed by her own good deed, so I stroked her hair a little more gently.

"Anyway. Thank you."

"...As long as you know."

Eugene and Yeonhwa. The relationship between those two, glimpsed through Eugene's records, ran deeper than I had expected.

Before either of them became Apostles —

Eugene had looked after Yeonhwa.

And Yeonhwa had looked after Eugene.

The two of them clawed their way to Apostleship through sheer desperation, and until Eugene gave up on his own life, they had held each other together the same way they always had.

And now.

To Yeonhwa, my existence — Eugene's existence — is...

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pillar that had come back.

A shard of Eugene's memory surfaced without warning. Right after he learned the truth, when he had changed so suddenly, Yeonhwa had come to him and demanded an answer.

That was why I made a vow.

For now I have no choice but to hide the truth and use Yeonhwa.

But just as the original owner of this body had so desperately wished — I would save her too. Without fail.

"Hey. Eugene."

"Yes, you called, Yeonhwa."

"...You're paying."

"Gladly."

It was a late afternoon, and the two of them walked into the dining hall together.

Somewhere in the Marcia Imperial Capital.

Deep underground stood a temple belonging to those known as the Salvation Cult — or, more plainly, the cultists. And in the deepest chamber of that temple, a conference room that only the Six Apostles were permitted to enter.

"......"

"......"

"......"

"......"

Silence held the room. Then, for reasons of her own, Number 1 was the first to speak today.

"What did you say you were doing?"

A voice like ice, stripped of all flavor. Number 3 snapped his head around.

"W-we reported that we were recruiting Vivian."

"...And the report was true?"

"Y-yes! How dare I submit a false report, no matter how safe I felt I was!!"

"I see. So that's how it is."

Number 1 fell silent.

"......"

The moment she rested her chin lightly on her hand, a dark-crimson divine power seized the entire chamber.

"Ghk...!"

"...!"

Crushed beneath that force, Number 3 and Number 6 leaked vivid scarlet blood from between their lips. Only Number 5 kept her head raised. She looked at Number 1 and asked, in a voice like stone,

"Time's up."

The next instant —

"You little shit!"

Thud.

Number 3 was already there, one hand locked around Number 5's throat, glaring down at her with murder in his eyes.

"Who said you could open your mouth first?"

"The Rank Assessment Exam. Three days remaining. We need to leave and prepare now."

"We'll handle our own mission."

"Is that why Vulkan is still alive?"

"You little—!!"

Number 3's fist was already coming up when —

"Stop."

Number 1 rose from her seat.

"The mission is amended. Number 5. You will join the Rank Assessment Exam as well. The target remains unchanged: the Child of Fire. Cut down the Hero's sprout."

"O Son!! This mission is more than enough for the two of us! Please, give us a chance to make up for it!!"

"Make up for it?"

Tap.

Number 1 took a single, unhurried step — and was standing in front of Number 3.

A slow, suffocating hush filled the space between them as Number 1's eyes met Number 3's.

"...I'll leave it at that."

In that moment, Number 3 — Red the Brown — understood.

"F-for the Mother of Ruin!!"

This was the last chance. Number 6 understood it too.

"...For the Mother of Ruin."

Behind the two of them, flattened against the floor, Number 5 walked out at her leisure. She had bowed to no one. She had clasped her hands for no one.

"......"

Number 1 did not stop her. She offered only a warning.

"Not yet. You must not kill."

Number 5 let out a short laugh.

"Well. If that wish is not yours — if it is Mother's will — then by all means."

The tip of a lightly raised right hand. A slender white finger drew a circle in the empty air and gave it a casual push.

Crack. Crick-crack!

The circle, no larger than a point, swelled like a stone, like a sphere, like a boulder, until it tore open into a dark-crimson gate.

"You two. Follow."

Number 5 flicked her hand in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a lazy wave and vanished beyond the gate. Number 3 and Number 6, still writhing on the floor, hurled themselves after her.

And the next moment —

Crash!

The gate shattered into nothing.

Right after we finished eating.

"Yeonhwa. Evolve me."

"What?"

"Ah — I mean, train me."

I asked Yeonhwa to train me.

"Training? You're already strong enough."

Her face was full of genuine confusion. The me that Yeonhwa knew was Eugene — a named boss so infamous even the original novel treated him like a walking disaster.

Of course I'd only feel strong to her.

From where she stood, someone vastly more powerful than herself was asking to be trained. But that was a lie.

Twenty-five-year-old South Korean. Military veteran. Currently single.

Anyway, just as Leopold had written, I was overwhelmingly short on real combat experience. I delivered the excuse I'd prepared.

"I intend to discard the power I gained from the Salvation Cult."

"Why would you throw that away?"

"Because the more you use it, the more it drives you insane."

The power wielded by the Six Apostles of the Evil God was a power forged through baptism and deprivation. That was why Yeonhwa had madness, Number 3 had rage, and Number 6 had fear.

Not that any of that applies to me.

In the original story, the 2nd Apostle received the baptism — and never once used that power.

Because he was already strong enough without it.

To the other Apostles, though, it had looked as though that power was what made him strong.

"...Well. I guess even you wouldn't get off without side effects. The power's overwhelming, so the backlash would be too."

She bought it, just as I'd expected.

"But what are you going to do about it? It's way too late to start cultivating a new power now."

"No. I obtained it a long time ago. I just need to refine it."

"You obtained a power?"

Yeonhwa let out a short laugh.

"What, did the Goddess give you some nice ability? Or did you run into a Spirit King or something?"

...Her intuition was better than I thought.

Should I kill her.

"Anyway, I'll help. Let's see what kind of amazing power you got that's worth throwing the other one away on the spot."

"Thank you, Yeonhwa."

As I said it, I held out the honey candy Mokhyang had given me during the meal.

"Am I a kid?"

"In my eyes, you always will be."

"...Ha! You're hilarious."

She said it — and took the candy anyway, covering the corners of her mouth with one hand.

"So. How do you want me to help?"

She asked with her back still turned.

I've already thought of the training method.

If this had been an ordinary body, I would have had to start running laps and swinging a sword from day one. But as I'd said — Eugene was a genius in combat.

He already has an absurdly solid body.

Admiration, which I'd possessed from the moment I woke up in this world. Ancient Aura, obtained thanks to Dark. And a genius so far beyond ordinary reach that it could imitate another person's skill on the spot and put it to use.

If I can mix those three together and actually use them in a fight?

I can get strong in a very short time. Which meant the training method I'd settled on was —

"Yeonhwa."

"Yeah?"

"Let's throw down."

"...Huh?"

Real combat. And then more real combat. Nothing else.

Three days until the Rank Assessment Exam.

If I spent every hour of that time in life-or-death combat against Yeonhwa —

I won't fall behind ordinary students, at least.

I had to hit S-rank on the Rank Assessment Exam. And I had to obtain that.

I gripped my sword, resolve burning in my eyes.

"Shall we begin?"

"...Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Of course. We fight like we mean to kill. We just don't actually kill each other."

"That's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly the problem."

The next moment.

"You know. Kihiit. Once I get deep into a fight, puhat! Once I really fall in, haah..."

My eyes roll back.

I let out a short laugh and held up a hand.

"Timeout for a sec."

"Kyahat! You bii——tch!!"

Whoooooosh!

The first spar began.

And so time passed, and three days later.

"Kikik, Yuria, hel, lo?"

"Hiiiiiiek!!"

I had managed to get stronger. In more ways than one.