Chapter 5: The Sleeping Sword

“…Ugh? W-wait…!”

Experiencing such close proximity to a girl for the first time in my life, I stuttered and my body stiffened.

Having gone through an all-boys middle school, high school, and engineering college in my past life, there was no way I could be accustomed to a situation where a girl, especially my favorite character, was clinging to me with her whole body.

“Um, a-are you…

okay?”

I barely regained my composure and called out to Yelena, but the only response was a chilling silence.

Half confused and half worried, I couldn’t move recklessly.

Elin examined Yelena’s condition and said.

“She just fainted from exhaustion, so there’s no need to worry.”

Elin murmured and laid Yelena on a chair in the corner.

Taking a key out of Yelena’s pocket, Elin turned to me and said.

“She’ll probably wake up in about three hours, so could Sian say a word to her?

She’s still young.

She’s a Stigmata user, so she’ll be fine for now, but overworking like this isn’t good in the long run.”

“What about you, teacher?”

“I have a lot of work to do, so I have to go.

It’s the beginning of the semester, so I’m a bit busy.”

At Elin’s words, my face stiffened involuntarily.

‘Wait a minute, teacher?

If you leave me alone with Yelena, I’ll die of awkwardness…?’

The only conversations I’ve had with Yelena were when she fell and just before the duel.

Was it really okay to leave me alone with Yelena, who I had just defeated, especially considering her pride?

No matter how much the third-year Yelena in the original work didn’t dwell on her defeat in the duel, the Yelena here was a young Yelena who hadn’t appeared in the original work.

Whether she knew how my insides were churning or not, Elin smiled as she took the key out of Yelena’s pocket.

“Don’t be too disappointed.

After the midterm exams, I might have some free time to look at your swordsmanship.”

The chance to receive personal guidance from a Swordmaster.

It was an opportunity that other students in the swordsmanship department couldn’t buy even with a mountain of gold, but my expression wasn’t great.

“…Thank you.”

“Hehe, Sian, you’re quite an interesting one.

Well, goodbye.”

With those words, Elin left the training hall.

A sudden silence descended.

Amidst the rhythmic sound of Yelena’s breathing, I looked around to shake off the awkward atmosphere.

Spending time alone with my favorite character was surely a dream for gamers all over the world, but it seemed like I had accumulated a lot of negative points with Yelena.

Even if I swung my sword now, my troubled mind wouldn’t allow for proper training.

I wanted to find something to do.

And then, a longsword lying on the floor caught my eye.

A hilt marked with countless traces of effort, and a blade that, in stark contrast to the hilt, retained the sharpness of the moment it was made.

I picked up the sword, which even someone ignorant of swords would call a masterpiece, carefully sheathed it, and placed it by Yelena’s head.

Then, Yelena, who had been sleeping without a sound, began to stir.

“Ugh….?”

“Ugh… I can’t, let go of the sword…”

Whether I was startled or not, Yelena fumbled around with a pained expression.

Like a castaway in the water, searching for something to hold onto.

“Yelena?

Are you okay?”

“Ugh…”

Even when I asked in a flustered voice, all that came back were painful moans.

‘What on earth should I do in this situation?

Maybe I should have held onto Elin-sensei a little longer.’

There was a certain gap between the Yelena in the game, who acted according to the program, and the real Yelena, who had emotions.

And that gap was a kind unfamiliar to a transmigrator who had been looking at the world based on the knowledge of the original work.

“Ugh…ah.”

While I was lost in confusion, Yelena’s hand finally reached the head of the bed.

Yelena unconsciously hugged the longsword tightly and fell back asleep.

Her expression instantly became peaceful, and her rough breathing stabilized.

As if the sword was her life, or even more precious than her life.

“Hmm…”

With an unfittingly cute moan, the strength slowly drained from Yelena’s body.

Was she having a good dream?

The usually sharp corners of her eyes softened, and a faint smile appeared on her relaxed face.

“Sigh…”

Only then could I also let out a sigh of relief.

The Yelena in [Arcana Academy] was the very definition of an ice princess.

The reason I fell for Yelena Frost was the scene where she calmly sentenced the devil worshippers to death while unleashing a snowstorm.

However, the Yelena in front of me now was just a seventeen-year-old girl who was more mature than others.

Maybe that was why.

Suddenly, I wanted to know more about Yelena.

Not the expressionless third-year top student in the game, but Yelena Frost, who could cry and laugh.

I was curious about the story of the girl who lived and breathed here.

Originally, I had no intention of intervening in the original story.

The game could be cleared sufficiently by the heroines even without the protagonist.

I was just in a position where I only needed to protect myself.

To me, who had been forcibly dragged by the status window without any goal, the academy was just a place to see the characters in [Arcana Academy].

That’s why I had been living without any goals until now.

“I definitely thought so, but…?”

Seeing Yelena Frost like this, I realized that Yelena, whom I had vaguely thought of as just a heroine, was ultimately just a girl.

And the other heroines, and the extras, were people with emotions who lived in this world, just like Yelena.

The privilege of changing a fixed destiny belongs only to the transmigrator.

With such a privilege, I could prevent the bad endings of the characters and save the students who would die in various events.

If I knew that people would die and just stood by, and the desks of my classmates became empty one by one, it would feel like it was all my fault.

I didn’t want to regret it like I did when I ran away in my past life.

I quietly looked at Yelena and organized my thoughts.

Yelena regained consciousness at exactly eight o’clock.

I heard she hadn’t eaten anything yesterday, and just as I was wondering if I should wake her up, I heard the girl’s murmuring from beside me.

“Ugh…”

“Ah, are you awake?”

“Hmm…?”

Yelena looked around with a somewhat dazed expression, and her gaze landed on me.

Then, she looked at her own posture for a moment, and her eyes trembled.

“Ah?”

“Um…

I didn’t see anything…?”

Yelena’s face turned as red as a ripe persimmon.

She quickly put the sword aside, regained her composure, and put on her usual expressionless face, but she couldn’t do anything about the remaining heat on her face.

Her eyes, filled with complex emotions, couldn’t even focus properly, unlike her usual confident self.

Feeling the image of the ice princess gradually shattering, I quietly watched Yelena until she returned to her senses.

“Ahem, Student Sian?”

It took a while for Yelena to return to her usual self.

An emotionless, mechanical expression.

And only then did I begin to remember the situation I had forgotten because of what had just happened.

I was marked by Yelena from our first encounter.

This was our first meeting since the duel, and I wondered what Yelena thought of me.

“Ugh, um…

I’m really sorry.

I didn’t mean to look…”

“Stop. I don’t intend to blame you.”

Yelena’s voice cut through my words.

Yelena, who had returned to her usual self, said as she adjusted her disheveled clothes.

“Anyway, it’s good timing.”

Yelena took out a longsword and a one-handed sword from the practice sword stand.

She put the practice sword on her waist and threw the one-handed sword to me.

While watching me catch the sword, Yelena knelt before me with her usual indifferent expression.

“Teach me the sword.”

“…Huh?”

At Yelena’s sudden and unexpected action, a stunned voice escaped my lips without my realizing it.

Since the game had become reality, I fully expected Yelena’s actions to differ from those of the original Yelena.

But this was way too different…!

A scream that couldn’t form into words swirled in my mouth.

My mind was even more confused than when I saw Yelena in pain.

It took a little while longer to answer Yelena’s question.

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

“I can give you as much money as you want.”

“I’m sorry.”

Objectively speaking, Yelena was superior in terms of pure swordsmanship skills.

The reason I was able to defeat Yelena was that Yelena had only ever faced monsters.

It was a lack of experience, not a lack of skill.

In that situation, me teaching Yelena?

That would only be detrimental to Yelena.

“Instead, I can spar with you every morning.”

“In that case…!”

“Promise me one thing.”

I raised my index finger and interrupted Yelena.

Honestly, I didn’t know if it was right for me, who didn’t know Yelena well, to interfere in her life.

But I felt that what needed to be addressed should be addressed.

“No more overworking yourself like today.

If a friend I train with gets hurt, it will hurt me too.”

Saying that, I reached out my hand to Yelena.

“Promise?”