ALL NOVEL Chapter 35 - Master-nim? (2)
Is that… what I just said?
“Aaron, what are you-”
“Sir Aaron?”
From beside me came voices full of confusion.
However, I couldn’t answer their confusion.
Because if I moved my mouth now, my Master looking at me as if ready to draw her sword-
‘Oh seriously!’
Is my head broken too? When I think of Gwen, the word ‘master’ automatically comes to mind.
“……”
Though I would be willing to bury my head in the dirt if she’d just say something, Mast- Gwen just stood still without any reaction or movement, only her eyes growing wider.
‘Someone please say something…!’
As cold sweat drenched my entire body like a bursting dam, I looked at them with just my eyes without moving my head, hoping they would change this atmosphere.
“”……””
However, even Aslan and Arcana, who until just now had been saying something whether out of worry or confusion, kept their mouths shut and avoided her eyes.
As the silence continued, along with the unceasing cold sweat
“Aaron.”
Finally, it was Gwen who broke the silence.
She covered her eyes with her palm and called my name while taking a deep breath as if suppressing anger.
“Yes.”
I responded instantly and unconsciously.
When I looked around, hoping for some help, he saw the two people had already fled far away.
-Shake shake
I’ve never seen Aslan and Arcana shaking their heads so seriously without any playfulness.
“Huff…”
Had she cooled her emotions? Gwen removed the hand covering her eyes with a big sigh.
“Should I go, or do you want to come? Choose.”
“What?”
“Never mind. I’ll just go.”
Gwen’s footsteps approached me with a relieved smile as if having found the answer to her deliberation.
“Huh?”
Just as I was about to step back as uneasiness surged-
-Grab
“Got you.”
It was none other than Gwen who grabbed my head.
She ran up to me in an instant and grabbed my head just short of crushing it.
“Aaron.”
Though she was smiling, I could see Gwen’s eyes trembling.
Though she spoke angrily, her voice shook, and her eyes shone as if tears might flow.
“…Yes?”
My voice trembled.
“If your personality is the same, you’re surely hiding your skills and power, right?”
Gwen’s meaningful words came as if she knew me.
“What? No, I, um-”
Since her words weren’t wrong—given my personality, I would have tried to hide them if I had power—I couldn’t completely deny them.
“As punishment for wickedly deceiving your master, let’s take a few hits like in the old days. You’re probably shadily hiding things like aura or traits again anyway.”
Wait.
‘What did Gwen just say?’
Like in the old days?
Moreover, her reaction to knowing about my aura and traits overlapped.
Gwen’s statements, as if she completely knew me, began accelerating the thoughts in my head.
‘Penalty window! Quick, bring up the penalty window!’
‘…{Current} 5th Loop: [At the start of the loop, your memory data is initialized. In exchange, the memory data of those who tried to remember you are restored.]’
‘Those who tried to remember you’
The unit written in the hastily opened penalty window indicated plurality.
This means that Sephir might not be the only one whose memories have returned.
“Master-nim- Ah! Lady Gwen! No, wait, let’s talk!”
Though I tried to urgently stop her actions by flapping both hands
“How dare you… You only revealed this now to embarrass your master? After leaving before your master, now you’re playing around with other women?”
It seems I’ve caused some strange misunderstanding.
“No, Master- Oh really!”
Why does this damn head keep malfunctioning in word choice like it’s buffering!
“You, you used to say this often when teaching me?”
Lifting my head with one hand while clenching her other fist with all her might.
-Whoosh
Gwen’s aura began condensing enough to feel the surrounding air trembling.
That aura, interacting with Gwen’s trait, began creating small ice crystals in the surroundings.
“Clench your molars tight.”
Her hand released my head, and in that moment when I couldn’t find my balance in the air.
Gwen’s fist headed for my abdomen-
“Gwen! He’s not even an aura user but a second-circle mana user! If he gets hit too hard, he’ll di-”
From far away, Aslan urgently shouted.
“Huh?”
Gwen felt something was wrong, too.
‘If only you’d spoken a bit soon-‘
I felt disappointed.
-Bang
—–
“Aslan… praise Aslan…”
Far away, rolling on the ground like in a cartoon, I was cheering for Aslan.
Perhaps thanks to Aslan’s final, genuinely surprised warning.
I took what was essentially an empty punch, most of the power and aura having drained from Gwen’s fist in an instant.
Of course, it still hurt enough to nearly kill me, having been hit by a fist that had been filled with Gwen’s aura, which had long since surpassed Sword Expert.
“Without body reinforcement, it would have really been dangerous…”
My entire body trembles as if on ice.
I lowered my head to assess his condition.
“Ouch.”
Not speaking metaphorically, the impacted area was actually frozen.
Reaching out to touch it slightly, I realized that my body wasn’t frozen solid; a thin layer of frost had formed on the skin.
Moreover…
[Fatigue has increased dramatically.]
Thanks to Gwen’s punch, fatigue seems to have accumulated again.
‘Wow, after coughing up blood this morning, looks like I’ll be coughing up more later.’
I truly didn’t want to get up.
-Whoosh
“Aaron. I don’t know what conversation you had, but Gwen has quite a temper. Don’t scratch her even by mistake. You’ll really die.”
Aslan, who had approached me at some point, created a small flame to melt the frost clinging on me.
“If Gwen had drawn her sword there, it would have been really dangerous.”
“……”
It was a scenario I didn’t even want to imagine.
They say Gwen’s sword goes beyond just cutting flesh to freeze internal organs, bringing all sorts of pain even in the moment of being cut.
“Well, time to get up.”
Aslan extended his hand to me, lying on the dirt.
“Um, since it hurts, can’t I lie down a bit longer?”
How should I put it?
After a cold pain followed by a warm massage, my mood had completely lifted.
A comfortable feeling that made me not want to get up emanated from the dirt.
But Aslan just smiled and said one thing.
“Our class is about to start.”
—–
The swordsmanship professor stood in front of the forest surrounding the Academy.
Beside him stood new professors whose faces I hadn’t even seen yet.
“Everyone seems to be here.”
Though not particularly loud, the swordsmanship professor’s low, thick, and sharp voice immediately cooled the minds of the students gathered before him.
The students fell silent in an instant.
“Response.”
The voice that came with the professor’s gaze created an atmosphere where even the most nervous students had to answer with strength in their voices.
“Yes!”
“Good.”
Perhaps pleased with the tense appearance of the students who immediately gathered their wits, he nodded slightly with closed eyes and began explaining why he had called them here.
“I called you all here to check your abilities as swordsmen.”
When the professor finished speaking, a student immediately raised their hand.
“I have a question! Didn’t we already take a test on entrance ceremony day?”
The professor shook his head.
“That was simply to visually confirm your aptitude. Consider what you’re about to do a more advanced test.”
The student who heard the answer lowered their hand, and the professor continued explaining while pointing at the forest.
“You will form teams of three, find an item I’ll tell you about shortly in the forest, and return here. You can use weapons, mana, and aura. The time limit is until the bell rings for the Academy’s last period.”
After speaking, the professor was about to step down when, as if remembering something forgotten, he added an additional explanation.
“For reference, the monsters beyond here are higher-ranked species than those gathered outside during the entrance ‘ceremony,’ so please approach with some tension. As for safety, we’re monitoring from the sky, so you don’t need to worry too much about that.”
-Bang
As he finished speaking, he clapped loudly with aura.
The students standing before him heard an explosion-like clap sound that was momentarily deafening as it echoed back from within the forest.
“Well then, you may now form teams.”
With that as the starting signal, the students sought the best teammates.
“As a member of the Viscount family, with you being from another Viscount family…”
“How about me? As you know, my skills are close to that of a Sword Expert…”
Having sufficiently introduced themselves on entrance ceremony day, everyone seemed to roughly understand each other’s positions.
Their appearance of taking the test seriously while appealing their status and strength to each other.
‘These guys are closer to humans whose self-esteem matches their efforts rather than trash with strangely high self-esteem…’
Rather than trash who can only talk, more like people with ability who just inflate it somewhat?
It was surprising that none of them were people who didn’t put in effort.
‘Is this the effort of lower nobles who can only save their territories by skillfully networking while being mindful of appearances?’
A life of striving to receive scraps from those above. That’s the noble life below Count rank.
Collecting taxes and playing around with territory like real estate was only possible at Marquis rank or above.
Like that, time passed as I watched the nobles introduce each other like passing out flyers while forming teams…
“Teams seem to be mostly formed now.”
Aslan, standing beside me, said it was about time.
“Then we should-”
As I carefully opened my mouth.
“Aaron.”
“…Yes.”
Mast- no, Gwen, who sat classically on a rock with crossed legs as if holding my leash, called me while wiggling her fingers.
“Come quickly. It’s awkward.”
“……”
Arcana and Aslan already looked like they had given up.
…Damn it.
Coming here in a hurry due to lack of time, we couldn’t even have a conversation.
Judging by Gwen’s reaction, it’s almost certain she has her memories.
‘I need to talk with Gwen.’
“Aaron?”
“I’m going…”
I wonder what I did in that time for Gwen, who even servants reject, to call me like this as if calling a butler.
‘For now, let’s do as she says until we can be alone.’
If I open my mouth wrong, feeling like she’ll throw that thing again.
—–
-Crackle
[Trait: {????} has {temporarily paused} interference with thoughts.]
[I told you not to meet!!! Even sent data telling you not to do tha-]
-Crackle