The Garden Guests and Uneasy Truce
Philia had four students.
"So, the story is that she ran away from home?"
"Run away? Don't talk nonsense. She just left the house. She disowned it."
Rai's expression turned incredulous as he watched Asran boast about it, then he turned his head away.
"I let the troublemaker in for one night, and now he won't leave and keeps hanging around."
"Stop talking nonsense and get inside."
"Do you think I'm wrong too?"
"No, I just want you gone."
"... That pisses me off more."
Asran frowned at Rai's teasing smile, set down the glass he was holding, and lay back.
Lying flat on his back in the garden looked comfortable to Rai, but from Rai's perspective, the guy was a damn one who wouldn't leave and kept stubbornly refusing to go.
"Where are Seiban and Delen? Why did they come to my house and cause trouble?"
"They'll stay over, but Seiban lives in the dorm and it's awkward for him, and Delen... that house is full of terrifying maids."
Rai remembered Delen, the Brute King who had early sexual experiences with maids when he was young, and he understood Asran's words.
But that didn't mean he wanted Asran to stay permanently.
"This is payment for the room."
Asran handed over a small dagger as a proof that he would be kicked out.
The ornate dagger was decorated with jewels on the handle and looked like it was meant for decoration.
Rai picked it up, held it in the sunlight, and asked, "Where did you get this?"
"I picked it up from the display cabinet on the way."
"Now you're stealing too."
"It's in my room, so it's mine."
"Try saying that after you get caught."
Rai tossed the dagger back to Asran.
When Asran saw Rai's indifferent attitude toward money and secretly participating in the students' gambling, he was surprised.
"I thought you'd enjoy it."
"Who likes stolen goods? And it's a fake anyway."
"Really? What is it?"
"It's part of Melius's Fourth Feather, the famous luxury dagger series that rich nobles love. Of course, it's a replica."
Asran stared at the dagger in his hand, remembering that the family was famous but wouldn't proudly display a fake, and probably thought it was real. And the family would definitely think Asran had stolen a real artwork. So it wasn't just a few gold coins; it was a valuable artwork.
"... Whatever. He would be angrier than me anyway."
"Yeah, say that when you go to jail."
Asrai casually said it, and Asran threw the dagger aside as if discarding it.
The dagger was useless, but the topic of the house naturally shifted away. If he stayed like this, he could eat and sleep there, so Asran shut his mouth and looked away.
"And get out."
"Ah, wait! I want you to let me sleep."
"This guy has no shame. If you want to sleep, bring something decent, you bastard."
Asran looked away at the hand Rai spread out as if asking for something.
"If I sell it, how much will I get? Even if it's fake, the gems are real, right?"
"You're going to sell fakes? You're going to get caught, Arthur."
"... I'll pay you back later."
"Of the guys who say that, none have paid back properly."
"Ah, I'm really going to pay back!"
As they exchanged pointless conversation, Philia entered the garden and stopped when she saw the two of them.
Asran, who was on break today, looked at Rai with narrowed eyes at Philia coming over.
"An instructor touching a student shouldn't be allowed."
"... Why are there only people around me who misunderstand things?"
"You should know from your usual behavior."
Rai ignored Asran's words cleanly and called Philia over.
Selma had taken several days to decide and accepted Philia as her only disciple. And she dumped all the knowledge about sword techniques and understanding onto Rai.
Among the mages she knew, Rai was the one who handled sword techniques the best. Selma had once given up passing on her vision, but now that she had a disciple, her greed surfaced.
She thought that learning techniques from Rai would make her better than him, so she thought about her own vision and the techniques.
Of course, Philia's responsibility to learn increased, but Selma thought she could do it with her personality.
In the end, Philia also received private tutoring from Rai like Zeroa.
"Asran came to train too?"
"Eh? Y-yeah. I came to train."
"Yeah, keep it up. Let's train together."
Philia said with a smile, but Asran avoided her eyes and answered awkwardly.
To Rai, he was boldly asking to let him sleep, but when he had to say it was because he was leeching off a fellow student, he was embarrassed, so he couldn't say it honestly.
Philia, who had been watching the two with suspicion from the morning, refused Rai's offer of alcohol and sat down quietly.
Because she had seen Zeroa and Asran training with Rai many times, she assumed they would train together with the three of them.
The two of them, who had been drinking and lazily waiting, saw Philia sitting straight up and each gave the other a look before quietly putting the bottle down.
Zeroa arrived a little later, and he smiled at Philia.
"Philia-nim is also training together now."
"Yeah, please take care."
"I'll be the one asking you to take care."
Rai and Asran, who had been lazing around with drinks while the two talked cheerfully about training, felt a little guilty and shut their mouths.
Asran had no intention of training today, and Rai had no intention of teaching.
Naturally, the training atmosphere formed as Zeroa and Philia, who wanted to learn techniques right away and Zeroa who was training in Rai's garden, gathered.
Asran hesitated and brought the greatsword, and Rai, who had planned to rest today, let out a small sigh.
"Yeah, when you're my age, you should train hard. Everyone gathered... No, there was one more."
Today, Rai's house had many guests.
Rai smiled faintly when Abigail entered the garden.
She looked at the people gathered in the garden with a stern gaze. Zeroa and Asran were familiar because she had seen them training there many times, but Philia was not.
As Abigail saw Philia looking like she was going to train together, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you learning from her too?"
"Yeah, I'm learning from her. So?"
Rai teased with a dissatisfied voice from Abigail.
In her eyes, she had been beaten by Rai all the time but had not yet received any chance to learn, yet it looked like he was favoring Philia.
Even if she didn't care, Abigail had heard a few rumors flowing in the academy.
"Will you teach me too?"
"Ptoo-"
Zeroa, who had been quietly drinking, spit out his drink at Abigail's words. While Philia patted his back as he coughed from choking, Rai looked at her with a mocking expression.
"Do you have that much value in your body?"
"I'm a virgin. I'll give it to you."
Asran widened his eyes in surprise at Abigail's blunt words.
"You're still dumb."
"What's good about him and why not me?"
Asran pointed at Philia patting Zeroa's back and asked.
Philia glared at her, but Abigail didn't care and looked at Rai.
"I'll say it after considering the honor of this guy. There's nothing between me and him. And by your logic, those two idiots would have given it to me too?"
Asran shuddered at Rai's words, imagining something, and frowned in disgust.
"But why are you teaching?"
"It's my house."
"... ..."
No matter how hard she tried, there was nothing more to say. It was a meaningless answer without logic or reason.
Abigail clicked her tongue, briefly met eyes with Philia, who was still glaring, and turned back to Rai.
"Then let's fight one. I'll let you win today."
"Wait, shall we ask the idiots a question here? Why is Abigail repeatedly challenging me to spar even though she has no chance of winning?"
Rai looked at the other three and asked, and each one thought for a moment before answering.
"Because Instructor Rai said he would teach if I touched him once?"
"Yes, wrong. The world isn't that honest."
Zeroa closed his mouth at Rai's words.
"I thought I'd get hit once if I kept going. It's persistence."
"Yes, you heard a stupid opinion well. If the world had only people like you idiots, the world would have already been destroyed."
"Then what?"
Asran asked with irritation, but Rai didn't answer and looked at Philia who hadn't spoken yet.
She had only seen Abigail spar with Rai once, but she knew that had happened many times.
After hearing the previous answer, Philia, who had hesitated for a moment, looked at Abigail who was staring at Rai intensely.
She had a rough-mouthed personality that didn't get along with anyone.
In class, when someone sparred with her, she used a very aggressive and unpolished sword technique.
But she was very smart. Her grades weren't great, but unlike her rough appearance, she was cold and had amazing analytical skills.
What surprised Philia the most about her was when she sparred with Rai. She continuously adjusted her movements according to the situation during the spar.
She had the judgment to read the flow and the adaptability to respond to any situation.
A smart person like that wouldn't challenge a meaningless spar without any chance of winning.
"Because it would be helpful?"
"Correct. This guy who thinks he's smart is training his own skills while sparring with me. The idiot is thinking that I don't know about it."
As Abigail didn't object to Rai's words, which hit the mark.
Sparring with a master was a rare opportunity. It was like a treasure trove for learning what was wrong with her own strength and how to fight.
Asran was accumulating experience in sparring.
"Well, those idiots who are even dumber than me didn't think that."
At Rai's words, Zeroa lowered his head in embarrassment, and Asran boasted that he didn't need that, but the fact that he missed the opportunity didn't change.
"Then I'll take you. From today, learn."
"... What?"
"Your ears are clogged? Learn. You're getting tired of being my opponent now."
Asran looked at her in a daze.
After stumbling and sitting down as ordered to sit, she kept asking Rai if it was real.
"I said I don't teach stupid guys, but there are only stupid guys left. Congratulations, among the idiots, you're the least stupid."
So, the four of them were learning from Rai.
The four awkwardly looking at each other and sitting were adapting to the awkward atmosphere, but Rai was lost in thought and silent.
"Ah, so... we're learning together from now on. Please take care, Abigail-nim."
"Eh."
"... ..."
Zeroa tried to change the atmosphere by speaking, but at Abigail's one-word reply, he shut his mouth again.
Philia and Abigail met eyes with Zeroa, who was dejected.
"What was the meaning of what I said earlier? Does it mean I slept with Instructor Rai?"
"Isn't there another meaning?"
Philia's eyes turned cold at Abigail's words. Her lips curled into a mocking smile with red eyes, and a sharp aura leaked from her body.
"I guess your mindset needs fixing."
"What needs fixing is your light butt."
"The pitiful words coming from the mouth that begged to give a virgin to you?"
At Philia's smile, a killing intent poured from Abigail's body. While Zeroa, caught between the two, was at a loss and rolling his eyes, Rai said tiredly.
"If you're going to fight, fight outside. And don't come again."
At Rai's words, the two became mild and avoided their gazes. But they couldn't stop glaring at each other, so Zeroa, in the middle, tensed and fixed his eyes on Rai in front of him.
Lying comfortably on his side, Rai supported his head with one arm and watched the four carefully before smiling.
"I heard that asking a student for private tutoring is an honor for the instructor, and it's surprisingly easy."
Private tutoring meant the student was exposing everything he had.
Since the instructor had to know the techniques and skills the student had learned to teach, it required not only the instructor's skill but also great trust.
"I don't have any techniques... So, even if you teach me, there's no honor."
"No, I'm learning from my teacher, so technically it's not private tutoring."
"I'm just renting the training ground."
"... ..."
No one agreed with Rai's words.
Except for Abigail, who said nothing, each one came up with a reason and refused, so Rai puffed out his cheeks.
"... ... Not one damn guy will say I'm wrong."
No matter what their reasons were, four students were gathered in Rai's garden for training.
From the outside, it looked like they were receiving private tutoring.
And that was something that instructors who looked bad at Rai would be jealous of.