The Teacher's Grace (1)
The Teacher's Grace (1)
Master's summons.
It was sudden, but not entirely unexpected.
Master had been there when I threw that little tantrum at Senior Daera. I figured I might get called in about it.
...It could easily be something unpleasant. That possibility made my legs feel heavy.
But I couldn't exactly ignore a summons.
I lingered in front of the door, deliberately suppressing my presence. At last I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the magic tool beside the door.
- ...You there? Come in.
Master's voice came through the magic tool. There was no detectable anger in it, which brightened my expression a little.
But I can't let myself relax too soon. I reminded myself of Master's teachings and carefully opened the door.
Instead of a creak, a warm light leaked through the gap.
The room was dim overall, lit only by the magic-tool lamp on the bedside table. The room hadn't changed much since she first moved in.
Only a few pieces of furniture had been swapped, and their positions were roughly the same.
All of it was observed information.
The data flooding my vision was limited to Master.
Black pajamas... a negligee. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away from me.
Her folded arms subtly pressed her chest forward from behind, and though her figure was generously curved above and below, her waist appeared incredibly slender.
I could also clearly see the way her generous hips sank into the mattress.
"...Ahem, don't just stand there."
"Ah, yes..."
Master cleared her throat and turned her head away.
Her cheeks were faintly flushed. Above them, her golden eyes glanced at me and she gestured with a small motion of her hand.
I circled around the bed, approached Master, and gently sat down beside her.
"Hm?"
Master looked at me quizzically.
I flinched at her gaze and my eyes darted around. Master narrowed her brow and pulled me by the hand.
"What's gotten into you? It's not like you to be so timid."
"Ah..."
Led by her gentle touch, I found myself seated on her soft thigh.
As she wrapped her arms around me, my rigid mind and body melted away.
Sensing how I relaxed, Master asked, as if she'd already guessed.
"You weren't worried I was going to scold you for what happened this morning, were you?"
[Silence...]
"...Honestly..."
Pleading the fifth didn't do much good.
Master, who seemed to have suspected as much, looked surprised for a moment before her eyes softened and she stroked my head.
"I didn't call you here to scold you, so don't worry..."
"Mhm..."
"I was so curt earlier that it made you worry for nothing."
The tension melted away pathetically fast under the touch on my head. All the worries that had flooded my mind on the way here suddenly seemed foolish.
My body relaxed and naturally leaned into her, my face pressing against her chest.
Soft, generous flesh. Since she was wearing a negligee, her chest was exposed, and a sweet, nutty milk scent gently wafted up.
"Sniff..."
[Milk]
[Like Body Scent]
"Mmph..."
I nuzzled my nose against her skin where the sweet milky scent rose, and Master wrapped her arms around me lightly.
"Child, were you jealous because I'm teaching Daera? I'm not interrogating you, I'm just asking to make sure. You don't need to tremble."
The question caught me mid-sniff, and I flinched.
"...A little. Just a little... I'm okay now. I already apologized to Senior Daera. She accepted it too... I won't do it again."
I was aware that I'd caused trouble. And Master is particularly strict when it comes to training, isn't she?
She might let it slide gently this first time, but if I threw another tantrum during training, I'd probably get really scolded.
"You already apologized? Good job. You're such a good child..."
"Ehehe..."
Praise returned in response to my careful, tentative answer. I let out a spontaneous laugh, and Master chuckled before continuing.
"I know very well that my disciple is a good kid. I also know that the jealousy you harbor isn't a dark one, and that it's just a small tantrum that ends with a little neediness."
She continued while looking straight into my eyes.
It was embarrassing to face her eyes full of conviction, but I couldn't bring myself to look away because the affection dripping from them was so welcome.
"Still, I worry about those pure feelings deteriorating. Malice might not be there in the beginning, but there are cases where it spreads over time."
[Agreement]
[Dejected]
[Gloomy]
My head drooped naturally at the main point of the conversation.
Like Master said, it ended as childish jealousy this time, but if it keeps festering inside, it could morph into malice.
Even if it didn't become that serious, it could still become a starting point for hurt feelings.
Master had called me here to warn me about that very thing.
"I'm sorry..."
[Regret]
In the end, my immature jealousy was wrong. My actions caused trouble for Senior Daera and Master.
"......"
As I felt the weight of my mistake and voiced my regret, Master shifted her eyes and cleared her throat.
"...So, don't keep it bottled up inside. Let it out."
[?]
Her next words weren't easy to understand. Don't bottle it up, let it out? Let what out?
I lifted my lowered head and looked up at Master. A deeper blush rose to her cheeks as she subtly avoided my gaze.
"Didn't I say it? If you keep it bottled up, it'll fester. So don't suffer pointlessly and let it out."
"Huh? Ah... but..."
I finally understood a bit of what Master was saying. But my confusion didn't just disappear.
"Don't worry."
When I trailed off with that concern in mind, Master smiled brightly and stroked my cheek.
"As your master, how could I not accept my beloved disciple's neediness?"
"...Beloved?"
"Jealousy, neediness... you can let it all out, as much as you want, right now."
Master, who had embraced me, smiled softly.
Master isn't someone who speaks empty words. She said it's okay now, that she'll accept everything, so she truly would.
My heart pounded. Happiness and affection surfaced, but so did the immature feelings I had forcibly suppressed.
I bit my lip hard. Those feelings, that I'd held in, were trying to leak out again. If they did, I felt like I'd do something embarrassing.
I thought that and tried to endure.
"It's okay."
A voice suddenly reached my ear, shattering my resolve.
A kind, reliable tone.
My endurance crumbled, and those embarrassing feelings squirmed their way out.
"...Pay more attention to me."
The emotion spurred me into action.
I wrapped both arms around Master's back and buried my face deep into the chest that had been swaying right before my eyes.
I dug the bridge of my nose into her cleavage, and soft flesh pressed against my face from both sides.
"I hate it when you leave me out and only pet Senior Daera... Pet me too..."
It was an unfair thing to say. Master petted me far more than Senior Daera. But those few instances had sparked this jealousy.
"Why do you only teach her... I worked hard too, but you only teach her more..."
That was a lie. I'd already surpassed what Atra could teach me through one-sided instruction, so her direct guidance had simply lessened.
"You're... my master..."
A raw emotion, something too embarrassing to say, slipped out. It was so shameful even in my own head that my voice turned wet with unshed tears.
"Oh, you... I'm sorry for only focusing on Daera."
Even knowing that, Master didn't protest the injustice.
"That's it... don't hold back, just pour it all out."
She just maintained her gentle smile and accepted my absurd tantrums and jealousy.
Receiving that infinitely soft embrace, both my body and mind melted into Master's arms.
I was convinced that right now, Master would gladly accept any unreasonable or childish demands I made.
Emboldened by that certainty, I moved my hands.
- Squish
A plush softness filled my hand. As I gently pushed my hand in, the soft texture elastically slipped out between my fingers.
"Ah... mm..."
Master's kind smile clouded slightly.
Her soft eyes fluttered, and her curved lips opened slightly, letting out an excited breath.
But still, there was no restraint. The affection was still dripping from the eyes looking down at me.
- Growl...
As I fed on the affection falling from Master's eyes, a sudden pang of hunger hit me.
It was because of the soft flesh freely squishing right in front of my nose, from which the scent of milk was wafting up.
"...Master, I'm hungry."
"Huh, wh...? Hungry...?"
Master, who had been pushing her chest out with her back straight, blinked her half-opened eyes.
It was clear she hadn't understood what I meant. So I lowered my hand and grabbed the base of that mound, squeezing it firmly.
- Squeeze...
"Ah...! Haah... ahh..."
Understanding finally dawned in her quivering eyes. Master's face flushed as she swallowed hard.
* * *
'Ugh, it's stinging!'
Daera, having finished her training late at night, scrunched up her face as she came upstairs from the basement.
Her whole body was numb. Especially her fingertips and the circuits where mana had flowed, which were tingling.
'I knew control was difficult, but once we got into precision manipulation, it's seriously driving me crazy.'
She grumbled involuntarily, looking down at her trembling fingers.
The Heavenly Thunder that had manifested some time ago. And the complete transformation of her mana attribute that came with it.
She'd been careful with it even in the Reverse Side, but now that she was learning precision manipulation in earnest, it was proving incredibly difficult.
Before she started training.
She had been warned that her Lightning Energy and Unique Ability were especially difficult to control, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.
Ever since coming out of the Reverse Side, there's been no significant progress, which made her needlessly impatient.
She'd already wasted a few years. It's not that she hadn't grown there, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd left the world and fallen behind.
'Come to think of it, my junior disciple handles mana like a total freak.'
Her thoughts suddenly shifted to Lee Ha-yul.
A few hours ago.
He had gotten caught lurking by Daera, frozen up, and then started fumbling around.
Then he drooped like a wet puppy and apologized for something trivial.
When she accepted his apology, her junior disciple instantly brightened up like a blooming flower.
On the surface, Lee Ha-yul was an almost suspiciously pretty and cute flower, but Daera knew just how deadly that flower's thorns were.
Hadn't she already experienced it firsthand when she recklessly picked a fight without knowing what he truly was? The memory and sensation of getting hit in the stomach and passing out were still vivid.
That Lee Ha-yul was especially skilled at handling mana.
She had actually peeked at him while training, and he handled mana to a freakish, almost common-sense-defying degree.
Rumor had it that his unique ability was related to mana manipulation...
'Maybe I should ask him for some advice?'
It was in the realm of innate talent rather than technique, but advice from an expert of his caliber wouldn't be meaningless.
They were fellow disciples now, too.
He'd just apologized, and she'd accepted. He was even planning to give her a gift, and had said to ask if she ever needed anything.
'Ah, but it's way too late now.'
The thought of immediately going to find him came to a screeching halt. She checked the time on the representative device of modern civilization—her smartwatch—and it was late at night.
'...I'll just ask him tomorrow.'
Daera shook her head and turned around. He might be awake, of course, but as far as she knew, Lee Ha-yul was an early-sleeping kid who needed a lot of sleep.
And so she arrived in front of Atra's door. She had come by to say goodnight before going to bed.
Wiping her cheek with the towel around her neck, Daera reached for the doorknob...
- Crackle!
"?"
Lightning flashed in her mind. Daera stiffened up immediately and tilted her head.
'What is it?'
Heavenly Thunder.
Its primary use was to scatter lightning for attacks, but occasionally, it would also issue sharp warnings.
It was only a feeling, but it had never been wrong before.
If not for this warning function, Daera would have long since died facing monsters stronger than herself.
And that warning, that intuition, was telling her.
Don't go in.
'What the hell?'
She almost drew up her mana thinking it was a serious situation, but instinctively, she judged it wasn't a crisis.
'Then why is it telling me not to go in?'
Her head spun from her Unique Ability's sudden freakout. Daera took her hand off the doorknob and mulled it over.
'It might be rude, but I should check from out here...'
Still, with her intuition sounding the alarm like this, she couldn't just walk away without feeling anxious. She'd at least confirm there wasn't a problem, then leave.
Daera closed her eyes and drew up her Unique Ability.
Crackle! Lightning energy burst outwards from within her body. The tingling sensation intensified, but in turn, her senses sharpened.
Her senses slowly seeped inside the room.
The mansion's security magic tried to activate upon detecting the anomaly, but it stopped itself after identifying that the intruder was the officially registered Daera.
- ... ... ...! ...! ...! ...!
And so, without obstruction, her heightened senses gradually began to pick up sounds.
They were still faint, barely recognizable. Daera frowned and increased her concentration.
And then.
- Guh, oh, ooooh...!
"...!?"
The vulgar cry of a beast slammed into her eardrums, making her jump in place.
* * *
