The Calm Before the Storm
My entire body was tingling. There weren't any major injuries, but my legs trembled like they might give out at any second. My fists were the same.
Elesia's final strike carried that much power.
It was on a completely different level from anything she'd shown before. The title of Saint really wasn't wasted on her. To think she could use Holy Power like that.
Manipulating internal energy is normally hard to read, but thanks to the Eye of the Transcendent and its game-like information overlay, I could barely manage it. A straight punch with no fancy techniques or tricks. To deflect it, I'd had to dump every ounce of mana in my body into my arm.
Right now, my body was almost completely drained of mana.
“Even while making a bet, I really didn't think I'd lose.”
As I sat down to catch my breath, Elesia walked over to me.
Golden energy shimmered around her hand. The moment it touched my skin, the empty well of my magic power began to refill, and my wounds started healing. It felt almost exactly like drinking Holy Water.
“Nobody thinks they'll lose when they make a bet.”
“Fair enough.”
I'd judged that I would win, and she had naturally assumed the same. The only reason this spar ended in my victory was purely because of her consideration.
She must have noticed that my stamina was nearly exhausted.
“You're still 4th Tier, right?”
Elesia, who had been pouring Holy Power into me, casually tossed out the question.
My body twitched for a brief moment. I immediately regretted it and froze. Reacting like that was basically the same as admitting it.
She'd guessed my tier correctly. And from just one half-assed spar?
I wondered if she was the same type as Siren, but that couldn't be it. While both were combat-oriented, Elesia didn't have that kind of ability in the game.
“Just a guess.”
She must have seen the gears turning in my head, because Elesia added another comment.
“...It looked a lot closer to certainty than a guess.”
“Well, it wasn't that hard. I'm 5th Tier. Even if it's just a spar, to keep up with me for that long, you'd have to be at least 4th Tier, right?”
“You just casually reveal your own tier like that?”
“What's the big deal? Hiding your level only starts mattering from 5th Tier and above. At the student level, there's no point in hiding it.”
She wasn't wrong. The reason experts above 5th Tier hide their level is to prevent enemies who think they can handle them from coming after them. At most, they'd only attract 4th Tiers. And a swarm of academy students wouldn't pose any real threat anyway.
So Elesia's reaction wasn't exactly wrong.
I just didn't like that my tier had been exposed.
“Hmm, looks like you don't really want it known.”
“......”
“Don't worry. I won't go around blabbing about a junior's level. There's no reason to anyway.”
The golden energy faded as the healing finished. At the same time, she pulled her hand away and stood up.
Now that I thought about it, the recovery power of Holy Power was ridiculous. No wonder priests were treated as special even among healers.
It was a completely different kind of energy from regular recovery magic. It practically screamed that it had been created specifically for healing.
I rotated my arm a couple times and, finding nothing wrong, slowly got to my feet.
As I was about to head back after confirming I was fine, Elesia muttered quietly.
“By the way, if nobody thinks they'll lose when they make a bet... that means you naturally thought you'd beat me too, right?”
A chill ran down my spine. The meaning behind her casually tossed words felt like it was about to wrap around my throat.
It was like an intangible pressure. Something unknown was bearing down on my body.
I'm going to die.
The feeling was so strong it hit me like that. Right now.
Elesia smiled sweetly at me as I stood there frozen, then spun slowly in place. Without saying another word.
After a moment, her lips parted slowly.
“Arrogant junior, I'll be looking forward to your request. You know what'll happen if you call me for something boring, right?”
With those words, Elesia left the training room. I had to stand there for a while, trying to shake off the goosebumps that had crawled all the way up my neck.
“Now where to?”
That was the question that hit me after leaving the training room. There wasn't anywhere in particular I wanted to go, but I didn't feel like heading to the training hall either.
It was because today's classes had ended early. I'd already done my physical training right after waking up, so doing it again felt awkward.
As I stood there thinking, Tana's words suddenly came to mind.
'We're probably going to a cafe. Want to come?'
She had definitely said they were going to a cafe.
It had been about an hour since classes ended. In an hour, they should still be there, either chatting or drinking something.
“I've got nothing better to do anyway. Might as well go.”
Plus, both Cheon Yu-ha and Tana were there. For the Fallen Sword Princess episode, I needed to build some rapport with both of them anyway.
There was also Cheon Yu-ha's strange behavior to consider. And I had things to discuss with Tana regarding demonic energy.
The walk to the cafe didn't take long. It was right next to the lecture halls, after all.
Of course, being so close to the lecture halls meant it was a popular spot for students.
And among those students were naturally the freshmen. And I was the guy who'd already gotten a pretty bad rumor attached to him among the new students.
Nobody actually got up and left because of me or made a big fuss, but I couldn't avoid drawing a lot of attention.
When I entered the cafe and looked around, I immediately spotted Tana chattering away. Cheon Yu-ha sat across from her, looking slightly tired.
I headed straight for their table.
But I didn't announce my presence right away. I was a little curious what the two of them were talking about.
So I took a seat nearby where I could hear their voices.
At the same time, I perked up my ears.
“I mean, no matter how many times we checked, he didn't look sick at all. So it must be an internal injury. Something you can't see from the outside.”
“It could just be him faking it.”
“There's no way it's just faking. I heard the first semester curfew for first-years is really strict. No matter how crazy he is, sneaking out while fooling both the Dean and the instructors would be impossible, right?”
...This was not something I could just let slide.
From the way they were talking about overnight leave in the first semester, it was clearly about me... Wait, they came all the way to the cafe to talk about me?
“It's not like there haven't been cases of people going outside. If it's an illness that can't be treated inside the academy, they do allow students to leave. But since almost no one enters the academy with that kind of illness, it's not very well known.”
“But even with an illness like that, he can move around like he does?”
“Well... that would be his personal circumstances, I guess.”
As I listened quietly, the conversation was heading toward me having some serious disease. At this rate, they were going to start saying I was terminally ill and about to die.
Of course, I did have a serious condition, but it wasn't that kind of illness. ...Though it was extremely serious, to be fair.
Anyway, I needed to clear up the misunderstanding before their delusions got any worse. With that thought, I stood up.
Or rather, I tried to stand up.
“There's no way he's meticulous enough to fool even the Dean and the instructors.”
“......”
“No? Could that be possible?”
“Very possible.”
Yu-ha, Yu-ha, what are you even saying? I could let it slide with Tana since she's always been like this with her weird slander, but Cheon Yu-ha has barely even talked to me a few times. How could she say something like that?
For a second I wondered if I really was a crazy bastard, but after listening to Tana smoothly leading the conversation with her silver tongue, I changed my mind.
It was you. You're the one who's been spreading all this nonsense everywhere.
I can no longer stand by and watch this ridiculous rumor spread. It's time to bring down the hammer of love and justice.
You wicked villain!
I stood up and recalled the instructor's movements. Even with the Eye of the Transcendent, I couldn't read them properly, but I'd still caught a tiny glimpse. Just the faintest moment.
It was definitely like this.
I channeled a certain amount of mana into my index finger—the one I'd use to flick someone's forehead—then reinforced it. At the same time, I timed it perfectly and flicked with my mana.
Thwack—!
“Ow!”
Tana clutched the spot where she'd been flicked with both hands and hunched over. Cheon Yu-ha stared at me with wide eyes, surprised by my sudden appearance.
Watching them, I smiled and said,
“Looks like you two were having all sorts of interesting conversations while I was gone. Want to run it by me one more time?”
Tana, who had been staring down at the table, jerked her head up when she recognized my voice and looked at me.
“W-what? Lee Sungjin?”
“That guilty look on your face is too much. Let's make it two flicks.”
When I got into position again, Tana flinched and covered her forehead with her hands. If it had been Siren, she probably would've blocked even that. As expected, it's because I'm weak. If I weren't so weak, I wouldn't have to deal with this kind of slander.
A crazy bastard? The real crazy person is that one over in the second-year building.
You two really need to meet Elesia once. See what kind of mess I just went through!
But since there was no evidence that Elesia had beaten me to a pulp, I kept my mouth shut. Come to think of it, wasn't Holy Power actually the perfect way to erase any proof that she'd beaten someone up?
I silently apologized to myself for being weak.
I just need to get stronger. Strong enough to clear my name from this “crazy bastard” rumor.