Chapter 32: Preparation (2)

[Reenactment of the Battlefield is active]

-!!!”

As the dark flash struck the location where the ‘seed’ was stored, the branches of the cherry blossom tree drooped with a familiar scream. The luminescent plants that had been baring their fangs drooped their heads powerlessly.

The cherry blossom-colored mana particles that lingered in the air diminished, and the beautiful garden lost its light. The blooming cherry blossoms withered in an instant,

and the dark particles that had been swirling around my body scattered into the air one by one.

[Defeated Sacred Cherry Blossom Tree (Lv.50)]

[Ending ‘Reenactment of the Battlefield’]

“Is this the thirtieth time?”

With a small murmur, space began to crumble. The cherry blossom garden, devoid of life, disappeared, and the bisected cherry blossom tree turned to ash and scattered in the air.

I’ve already faced the cherry blossom tree thirty times in ‘Reenactment of the Battlefield’. Now, I could probably see its patterns even with my eyes closed.

Even so, I couldn’t rest easy. A variable that didn’t appear in the original work was a terrifying existence for me, who had lived for five years relying solely on the original work.

The memory of almost dying to the cherry blossom tree tormented me, even though it had been over two weeks since then.

“Sigh…”

I let out a light sigh and readjusted my grip on my sword.

There is no such thing as systematic swordsmanship for an adventurer, but there are some unspoken rules. Sheathing the sword was one of them.

Even the moment you put the sword back in its sheath, you must always be prepared for the enemy to counterattack or ambush, so instead of looking at the sheath, you sheathe the sword while maintaining vigilance around you.

Therefore, it’s a habit of many adventurers to wipe off foreign substances with their thumb and index finger along the blade when sheathing the sword, to identify the point of sheathing.

“Ugh!?”

As I habitually sheathed my sword, I winced and frowned. A fairly deep wound had been inflicted on the index finger of my sheathed hand.

Drops of blood flowed along the blade of the sword, which was sharp enough to cut the sky. A throbbing pain came a beat late.

I’ve been thinking too much.

I’ve been an adventurer for over five years, a veteran mercenary at the gold rank. There shouldn’t be a time when I get cut by a sword now.

The midterm exams are right in front of us, and there has been no progress in investigating the ‘seed’. I must have been unconsciously letting my guard down.

I muttered quietly and lightly bandaged my finger, then turned around without thinking –

“I should go to the infirmary first…Kya?!”

“Oh my?”

With a faint scent of roses tickling my nose, I bumped into Elin-sensei.

“Ugh, uwaah…?! Teacher?”

My heart felt like it was about to drop. I was sure I hadn’t sensed any presence. When did the teacher arrive?

Of course, if a Swordmaster intentionally hid her presence, there was no way a first-year academy student like me could detect it…but Elin-sensei wouldn’t bother to hide her presence like that.

Like last time, she probably approached me while deliberately revealing her presence little by little, matching the level of the students.

Then it simply meant that I hadn’t noticed.

“Hmm…”

But my thoughts couldn’t continue any further.

Because Elin-sensei had grabbed my left hand, which had been cut by the sword.

I suppressed the urge to scream like a girl and turned red.

Even if I was used to holding hands with female friends like Yelena and Regina, the touch of Elin-sensei, who gave off a mature atmosphere, was awkward.

An awkward silence filled the empty training hall for a while.

“Sian.”

“Y-yes?!”

After carefully examining my left hand, she spoke after applying a bandage carefully to my index finger.

“Have you been having any worries lately?”

“Worries…?”

“Yes. Worries.”

The eyes of Elin-sensei, who asked that, were slightly different from usual.

They weren’t the eyes that were always half-smiling and half-joking, with a kind of alluring yet kind gaze, but truly serious eyes. Beautiful eyes resembling rubies sparkled.

Could a Swordmaster tell this much from just a few signs?

“Ugh, did it show a little?”

“A skilled swordsman getting his hand cut by his own sword is never a common occurrence. Unless there’s some worry that has broken your concentration.”

“It’s an overestimation to call me a skilled swordsman.”

“I really think so. I’m not one to reach out to just anyone. I only approach children I really want to nurture personally, understand?”

Murmuring that, Elin lightened the heavy atmosphere a bit, then returned to the original topic and asked.

“So, what’s troubling our cute disciple?”

“Ack. I’m sure I refused the offer back then…”

“I’m a first-year swordsmanship Class A teacher. So Sian is my disciple, for now. And it’s also a teacher’s duty to listen to a student’s worries, isn’t it?”

“Ahaha, I’m sorry for changing the subject…”

Elin-sensei emphasized the ‘teacher’s duty’ part. In response, I let out an awkward laugh and carefully apologized. As the teacher said, I was deliberately changing the subject.

It was true that Elin-sensei had a certain degree of favor towards me, but even so, we had only met for about three weeks.

Where would you find someone who would believe a student who, after only meeting for three weeks, claimed that the school would soon be attacked?

So I needed time to organize my thoughts.

I couldn’t reveal the fact that there were students with fake Stigmata. They wouldn’t believe me if I revealed it.

Therefore, I needed a suitable excuse. A natural conversation to reveal the existence of the fake Stigmata.

I was buying time because I needed time to think of that excuse.

“It’s, actually…lately, I feel like my growth has stopped. I train hard as usual, but my skills don’t improve, and it feels like I’ve hit a wall, you know.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Ugh?!”

Elin-sensei’s soft touch stroked my head. It was a caring touch that I hadn’t felt in a long time, and it made my cheeks heat up.

“T-teacher…?”

“There’s no need to worry too much. That’s proof that your skills are improving. It means you’re seeing shortcomings that you couldn’t see before.”

“Is that so…?”

“Of course. I was like that too, and so was my master. It means you’ve grown enough to see your own shortcomings, so there’s no need to worry so much.”

“But, it feels so frustrating right now…”

“Yes. That wall feels the highest. But the growth spurt after overcoming it is also the greatest.”

It seems like I’ve steered it naturally halfway.

Thinking that, I slowly brought up the main point.

“So that’s why people turn to the fake Stigmata of the dark cult. Because they want to overcome that wall, even if it means cutting away their own life force.”

“Fake Stigmata?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen it in person, but I heard that such a thing exists. When I traveled to the southern jungle region.”

“…Could you, tell me in detail?”

Gotcha, should I say.

Elin-sensei began to show interest in my story. As an academy teacher, the fake Stigmata was a topic that couldn’t be easily overlooked.

Besides, if my guess was correct, there would be students whose skills had rapidly increased, even though they hadn’t awakened a Stigmata. The teacher must have noticed something strange.

“I only heard rumors while traveling as an adventurer. So I only know that if you implant a fake Stigmata, your physical abilities will increase like a regular Stigmata holder, but it consumes your life force.”

This was enough.

An invention of the dark cult that dramatically increases physical abilities like Stigmata holders, while consuming the user’s life force. It was a combination of words that an academy teacher could never overlook.

“I see.”

Looking into the air for a moment with an expression that suggested she had something in mind, she suddenly said she had something to do and hurriedly left.

“Sigh…”

Only then could I plop down on the floor. It wasn’t easy to act appropriately in front of a Swordmaster.

Still, I think I handled about half of what needed to be done. I don’t have any authority yet, but Elin-sensei is different. If I revealed the existence of the fake Stigmata, that would be enough.

It would be difficult to immediately punish students without clear evidence, but if I asked Elin-sensei in about two days, she would probably have narrowed down a few candidates for fake Stigmata holders.

“Now I should meet Regina.”

The remaining task was to meet Regina.

If it were Regina, who knew the future like me and had lived in this world, she would probably come to find me. To let me know that a terrorist attack would soon occur.

“Still, it’s a relief that things are working out here, at least.”

It wasn’t like the seed, where there was no one to help, and it didn’t seem like I had deviated too far from the ‘original work’ yet.

At this rate, it wasn’t a bad start.

Murmuring that to myself, I slowly got up.