Resting on the Master's Back
The whole way back, Enril didn’t say a single word.
‘You slept too much!’
The overwhelming drowsiness she could barely resist left her with no choice but to close her eyes for just a little while.
Ten minutes. Twenty? Yeah. Even thirty at most. She figured that would be enough to wake up.
In fact, when she opened her eyes, it hadn’t been that long at all.
“Ah, ah?”
When she finally looked around, the sun had already begun its slow descent into the late afternoon. The air had grown noticeably cooler.
And in the midst of it all, Rion was still carrying her on his back.
“Instructor?! How long have I been asleep?!”
“Hmm. More than four hours, I think.”
The instant she heard Rion’s answer, Enril wanted to slam her own head against the wall.
‘Crazy! How could I sleep like that!’
She hadn’t even beaten her own drowsiness, yet she had dozed off completely.
She had fallen into deep sleep leaning on a man’s back.
It was unbearably embarrassing.
If she could, she would have buried her face in the ground right then and there.
Enril trembled slightly, shivering all over.
She secretly glanced at Rion.
He had let her sleep for more than four hours, expecting her to wake up.
He had been careful not to move even a finger, not even to breathe, in case she woke up.
“Let’s go back. It’s getting late.”
Was he being considerate of her embarrassment?
In a completely casual tone, as if nothing had happened.
Looking at Rion extending his hand, Enril blushed again.
“You slept a lot, huh.”
“Y-yes?!”
Startled by Rion’s sudden question, Enril lifted her head.
In front of her, Rion continued in his usual calm tone.
“You looked really tired. Are you okay? Don’t you need more rest?”
“No! I’m fine! I’m really fine now! The sun was warm today, the wind was nice… so I guess I fell asleep without realizing it!”
Like a kid caught doing something naughty, she waved her hands and stumbled over her words.
Rion watched Enril for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle.
“Anyone would think you did something wrong.”
“That’s…”
“The hero is a person too. And people should rest after working. That’s only natural. It’s neither wrong nor something you can endure.”
“…”
“If you think about swinging a sword, for example. If you only swing it to cut without ever maintaining it, how long can that last? You need to polish the blade and sharpen it when you’re not swinging. Right?”
There was no flaw in Rion’s reasoning. His words were all correct.
Enril nodded, but there was still something bothering her.
She wasn’t a sword. She was a hero. She had the duty to protect this world.
Even though she hadn’t chosen it herself, the talent bestowed upon her was undeniable proof.
If no one else stepped up, the world would eventually perish.
She had chosen to face it head-on without backing down.
So, wasn’t it only natural to keep striving without rest…?
Clang!
“Hyah?!”
Suddenly, a hot sensation shot through her head.
Enril screamed, clutching her head, and looked at Rion who was holding up his fist.
“Wh-why…”
“You’re easy to read. That’s why it’s frustrating.”
“You can read it?”
“I thought the hero and the sword were different.”
Enril couldn’t help but tremble at Rion’s words.
“No need to overthink it. I said it. Rest is part of training too.”
“Yes, yes. You did say that.”
“So, think of yourself as training right now. Hmm. Managing the sword’s edge, if you will. How about that? Does it feel better?”
You’re training. This rest is just for the hardship to come later.
Thinking that way, Enril felt her heart ease a little.
She nodded, and Rion let out a sigh as if he couldn’t help it.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“If rest is training, you should train hard at it. So you should rest hard. You can’t just zone out like this?”
“But… the sun is about to set…”
She trained all day, and when evening came, she led her tired body back.
At the dormitory, she arranged her mana heart neatly and reinforced her will once more.
Then she lay on the bed and fell asleep again for tomorrow’s repetition.
That was pretty much the whole day Enril had spent so far.
“…”
Rion had roughly guessed the same thing.
For the past month, Enril hadn’t rested even a moment at the academy.
It was natural, in a way. That was how she had reached the top.
Even if it started as luck, from then on, her skill had been greater than her luck.
And that was achieved through superhuman endurance and training volume.
It wasn’t bad. Working hard was a very desirable thing.
Later, Rion himself might push Enril harder.
But not now. At least not for the next few days.
“The sun setting doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. For example, gazing at the night sky.”
“Gazing at the night sky?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
To draw out more natural and effective fusion, mental and physical stability is essential.
And the flow of starlight unconsciously increases mana fluidity.
But when explaining that, there weren’t enough other things to support the reason.
“I already told you. It’s rest.”
Rion just vaguely brushed it off with the word ‘rest’.
“It’s evening now. Let’s go.”
He grabbed Enril’s hand and ran to the rooftop without giving her time to hesitate.
No one was on the rooftop. No one to disturb them.
Now she could unconsciously draw the flow of starlight.
“Instructor? Is it really just looking at the sky?”
“More precisely, let’s say it’s something that contains something different from daytime.”
“For example…”
“For example, the cooling breeze, moonlight that’s different from sunlight, and starlight.”
“…”
“And what wasn’t there before is now there, right?”
Where Rion pointed, the cities formed around the academy were visible.
The lights of the city that were invisible during the day, but now illuminated the surroundings.
Visible. The lives they drew.
Audible. The bright laughter they let out with all their might.
She knew she had to fulfill her duty, understood she had to complete her fate.
But exactly what, and for whom, had been a bit hazy.
And right now, Enril could finally understand what she was fighting for, who she was enduring pain and fear for.
‘So that’s it. The instructor was telling me this to show me.’
She had thought rest was simply resting.
A waste of time, something not to be done if possible.
But looking at it this way, true ‘rest’ was not just resting.
A moment to stop and look back while running.
To remember where she had come from and what she needed to reach further.
A moment to build the will to never fall, to reach it no matter what.
But Rion, beside her, was thinking something else.
‘…How is it going?’
If during the day the mana overflowed and built something great.
Conversely, at night, it would be about finely carving and adjusting what was built.
The important thing here is that none of this is done consciously.
Unknowingly, the mana heart moves naturally.
No forced response could be drawn.
If it were a game, it would be achieved in an instant through affinity.
But Rion knew this was no game. It was a brutally cold and sharp reality.
Ssssss—
A breeze cut through the night sky.
Then it wrapped around Enril’s body once and disappeared far away again.
“…”
Feeling the mana sparkling from that wind, Rion smiled inwardly.
*
A few days later—
“…What did you just say?”
Her voice came out very coldly without her realizing.
Controlling emotions was essential, even if it meant using the core’s power.
So she shouldn’t be shaken like this, but this was a special case.
“Instead of Enril, I’d like you to take someone else. Instructor Rion.”
Head Instructor Edmond sat across from him and took a sip of tea.
It wasn’t casual or trying to provoke Rion.
It was the gesture of someone who truly couldn’t understand this matter.
Otherwise, his face wouldn’t be so stiff.
“Exactly who is this other person?”
“I don’t know precisely.”
“If you don’t even know exactly, how can you say such things? Especially here, at the Hero Academy.”
“I understand what you mean. But there’s nothing I can do. It seems the higher-ups think Enril has reached her limit and are focusing on other heroes.”
Damn it, so that was the ridiculous nonsense.
The only one who had reached him in over a hundred years was Enril.
The other heroes had done nine times what they could never do even if they died and revived!
“As for one thing I can tell you, that person is from the Combat Priest Corps.”
“…Really?”
The moment he heard the Head Instructor’s words, Rion’s expression changed strangely.