What Happened This Time?
Even today, the kid was acting strangely. She had been showing odd behavior quite often lately, as if weighed down by exhaustion, but today her condition seemed especially severe. No matter how much Kain tried not to pay attention, her state kept nagging at him. He frowned, stopped looking at his smartphone, and turned his gaze toward the kitchen.
Tap tap tap tap…….
The rhythmic sound echoed from inside the kitchen. When she had returned home with that vacant look in her eyes and headed straight for the kitchen, and even when she immediately pulled vegetables from the fridge and began chopping them, Kain had simply assumed she was preparing side dishes for tomorrow’s breakfast in advance. But as ten minutes turned into twenty, and then nearly thirty, with the neatly diced vegetables piling up in a large bowl until they threatened to spill over, Kain finally realized this wasn’t just about preparing a meal.
She looks like a dementia patient.
Arina’s current state reminded him of an elderly person with dementia, mechanically repeating the routines they had followed in their youth. In other words, she had thrown her mind somewhere else entirely and was moving in a daze, without a single thought. Like a sleepwalker whose body had woken up while their brain remained asleep.
No wonder she didn’t greet me when she opened the front door earlier.
She must have been sleepwalking the whole time. Still, there were no signs of a curse or magical interference. That meant she was simply lost in thought. Whatever the case, something had clearly happened to her at the academy today.
“Tsk.”
If he left her like this, she would never snap out of it and would probably stay up all night chopping vegetables. With an annoyed expression, Kain rose from his seat and slowly walked toward Arina.
“Hey, kid.”
“……”
“Kid?”
“……”
Even at Kain’s call, the only sound that continued was the steady thump of the kitchen knife against the cutting board. He muttered, “This is worse than I thought,” and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Kid.”
“Higeak?!”
The moment Kain touched her shoulder, Arina jumped in fright and let out a bizarre shriek. As a result, the knife slipped from her loosened grip and fell toward the floor. Worried she might get hurt, Kain quickly pulled her back by the shoulder.
“Oh… Uncle?”
The knife clattered weakly onto the floor. Naturally drawn into Kain’s arms, Arina blinked her wide eyes and stared at his face for a long moment.
“What are you doing at the academy?”
She hadn’t even realized she had come home? With a mind like that, how on earth had she made it back here? It seemed the blonde princess had gone through quite a bit of trouble for her.
“Snap out of it.”
“Pardon?”
Arina tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand what Kain meant. Then she looked around and flinched, her body trembling.
Home?
Huh? Why am I at home?
She clearly remembered going to the infirmary with Togun and Jeon. She even recalled receiving treatment from Professor Clara there. But after that, her memories grew strangely hazy. She had been reflecting on today’s mock battle while receiving treatment, yet when she came to her senses, she was already home. Bewildered, she turned her head this way and that before noticing the cutting board right in front of her and the mountain of finely chopped vegetables. She carefully glanced at Kain.
“Um, Uncle? Did… did I do all that?”
At Arina’s question, Kain silently nodded. He released her now that she had regained her senses, then picked up the knife that had fallen to the floor.
“Carrots, onions, bell peppers… You chopped up every vegetable in the fridge by type.”
As Kain placed the knife in the sink and muttered those words, Arina’s face flushed bright red.
“I-I’m sorry!”
“It doesn’t really matter.”
Whether for fried rice or rolled omelets, she would find a way to use up all those chopped vegetables anyway. As long as nothing was being wasted, there was no reason to scold her.
“Did you get yourself a crush or something?”
What Kain was truly curious about was why she couldn’t keep her mind straight. The first possibility that came to mind was love. Arina was now at the age where girls started developing such feelings. It wouldn’t be strange if she had taken a liking to someone. Though it was an emotion Kain himself could not understand, it was only natural for a girl her age to develop such feelings while interacting with various classmates.
“……Pardon?”
Arina froze for a moment at Kain’s words. Then, as if realizing what he meant, she vigorously shook her head from side to side.
“No, that’s not it!”
“It’s fine. There’s nothing strange about liking someone.”
Despite how he looked, Kain was the type of person who had willingly sent his sister off to a much older divorced man simply because she liked him. As long as Arina was happy, he had no intention of opposing anyone.
Though I’ll still have to run a background check.
There was always the risk of some weird guy trying to approach her. A con artist, a womanizer, or worse, an adulterer. He didn’t care what such men did to other women, but if anyone tried something like that with Arina, he had no plans to let it slide. If it came to that, not only Kain but all of the Seven Deadly Sins would thoroughly punish the offender.
In that sense, that man was probably lucky to have died in the airship accident.
Looking at it that way, Arina’s father, Hughes Grant, was quite a fortunate man. If he had ever caused even a single tear to fall from Kayen’s eyes during their marriage, he would have met a fate so horrific that dying in an airship accident would seem like a blessing. And not by Kain’s hand, but by Pride, acting on Kain’s orders.
“It’s really not that. I don’t have anyone I like.”
She liked her father, her stepmother, and her uncle as family, and she liked Marily as a friend. But Arina was still too young to feel romantic affection for someone as a man or a woman.
It’s okay. I’ll definitely protect you.
Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t any boys who caught her attention. During today’s mock battle, she had felt a strange flutter in her chest for a brief moment when Jeon held her hand and guided her forward despite her inability to see anything. Honestly, his words still lingered in her mind, but Arina quickly pushed the thought away.
He probably said it without really meaning anything.
From the start, the difference in their social status was too great to even imagine dating. They somehow managed to get along as friends, but becoming lovers was simply unimaginable. If Jeon had known what she was thinking, he might have collapsed on the spot and burst into tears.
So there really is something going on.
Although Arina had immediately denied it, Kain’s insight could not be fooled. Had his casual guess actually hit the mark? Still, since she seemed to want to keep it hidden, Kain had no intention of digging deeper.
But I should still run a background check on whoever it is.
He could just tell Jealousy about it later, and the man would handle the investigation himself. With that thought, Kain lightly patted Arina’s head.
“Now that you’ve come to your senses, go inside and sleep. And don’t pick up a knife again while you’re out of it.”
“Yes.”
As her uncle said, she needed to clean up the mess she had made and get some sleep quickly. Thinking that, Arina rolled up her sleeves and approached the bowl filled with finely chopped vegetables.
Jeon, who had gone straight to Professor Karlsen after receiving treatment in the infirmary.
Arina, who had acted strangely all the way home, lost in thought and behaving absentmindedly.
And Togun, who had finished the mock battle alongside them, was showing a completely different side from usual.
Why is this guy acting like this today?
He was far more ferocious and violent than usual. If the Tiger Step Togun had displayed until yesterday had resembled a tiger raised in a zoo, the footwork he was showing now was like that of a real tiger surviving in the wild. A predator living in a cruel wilderness where failing to hunt meant starvation. But the fiercer it became, the more crude and unrefined his movements grew.
“Didn’t I tell you to visualize every single muscle movement in your head while moving?”
Jealousy lightly kicked Togun’s charging shin. In the Hwan Empire it was called a pressure point, while in the Ellemental Kingdom it was known as a trigger point. Also referred to as a motor point or pain point, it was a spot that could induce special sensations or symptoms with only light pressure. Just as the theory suggested, the moment his shin was struck, all strength drained from Togun’s leg as if paralyzed, and he collapsed straight to the ground.
“Do my words mean nothing to you?”
Ordinary martial artists instinctively controlled all bodily functions. Just as a person’s heart beats without conscious effort, they unconsciously moved their mana through martial arts and activated their body’s functions. But Togun, who could not handle mana, was incapable of that. So what was the solution? Naturally, he had to consciously perform every single process that a martial artist resolved through their arts.
If he doesn’t do at least that much, this guy has no way to get stronger.
It was like a corpse whose heart had stopped performing CPR on itself to forcibly continue its life functions. An absurd and impossible challenge, yet for the powerless Togun to fight against those with abilities, he had no choice but to do something this ridiculous.
“Even if you enter a state of no-self, don’t lose your mind. Other martial artists can afford to, but not you. Strictly speaking, you aren’t even a martial artist.”
“Yes, I understand!”
At Jealousy’s warning, Togun used his sword as a cane to stand up and answered vigorously. His leg still hadn’t fully recovered, so he was limping. Nevertheless, once on his feet, he assumed his stance again, showing his will to continue the fight.
He’s arrogant, but admirable.
It seemed the mock battle had stimulated him after all. No matter how much he claimed to want to become a mage, he had neglected physical training and focused only on studying. Yet even someone like him apparently found losing to another person unbearable.
Nobody can lose and feel nothing about it.
Jealousy had been the same. Back when he was weak and powerless, he had been beaten by countless people and ground his teeth every night. He had vowed over and over that once he became strong, he would kill them all. And later, he had fulfilled that vow by personally annihilating every member of the Hwan Empire’s strongest assassination group, the Cheonsal.
“……”
Having thought that far, Jealousy suddenly frowned deeply.
Don’t tell me this kid is holding a grudge for getting beaten by me right now and plans to come after me later?
He was even taking time out of his busy schedule to teach the brat. If Togun dared to harbor such insolent thoughts, Jealousy would bury him deep in the ground with only his head sticking out.
Water him once every two days… No, once every three days should be enough.
Lost in his own imagination, Jealousy gradually built up negative thoughts about Togun. As he watched the boy with sunken eyes, Togun, who had assumed his stance, quietly spoke.
“Master.”
“Master?”
Although they had formed an unspoken master-disciple relationship, this was the first time Togun had directly called him that out loud. Jealousy widened his eyes in surprise. Togun looked at him clearly and said,
“I want to become stronger.”
As if he didn’t know how to beat around the bush, Togun answered with complete honesty, without any embellishment. To the only person who could grant his current wish.
“Hmph, how arrogant.”
At those words, Jealousy let out a small chuckle.
“Who do you think you’re ordering around? You must have a death wish.”
Seeing that look on his face, it didn’t seem like the kid was planning to seek revenge later. In that case, he could beat him even more thoroughly. After all, it looked like that was what he wanted.
“Grit your teeth. From now on, I won’t take responsibility even if your teeth fly out.”
“Yes!”
At Jealousy’s words, Togun answered energetically and charged toward him at full speed.